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WASHINGTON, FROM THE PORTRAIT BY GILBERT STUART 



Lives of the Presidents 


OF THE 

UNITED STATES 


Designed for Study and Supplementary Reading 


By EDWARD 


X <30 


'r 

S. ELLIS, A. M. 


AUTHOR OF “STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY,” “EPOCHS OF AMERP 
CAN HISTORY,” “THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S STANDARD HISTORY 
OF THE UNITED STATES,” ETC., ETC. 



1924 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 



COPYRIGHT, 1897, 1913, 1923, 1924, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY. 

ET/74 

.c— 4 
1^4 


Printed in the United States of America 


DEC *8 1924 

©Cl A 815128 

*\/l h I 




INTRODUCTION 




It is an old saying that every American Boy expects some 
day to become President of the United States. Whether 
this be true or not, all boys and girls are interested in reading 
about the men whose deeds have made them prominent in 
history; and our form of Government makes it possible for 
the poorest youth to attain, by his own efforts, the highest 
honor the Nation has to confer. 

It is hoped these biographical sketches may aid in deter¬ 
mining what traits of character and achievements will most 
certainly lead to honorable recognition. 

The lives of public men are so closely associated with and 
influenced by the events of their times that their biographies 
naturally include much of the history of the country, 
while a knowledge of the character and progress of the people 
may be gained by studying the careers of the men who have 
been chosen as their leaders. 

It is difficult for a contemporary to review the events of 
the recent administrations and pass judgment on public 
men, with regard to their final place in history, on account 
of the environment of party strife with all its conflicting 
opinions; but it has been our aim to present these biographies 
from an entirely non-partisan viewpoint. 




CONTENTS 


PAGE 

George Washington, ...... 7 

John Adams, . . . . . • 16 

Thomas Jefferson, . . . . . . 25 

James Madison, ...... 34 

James Monroe ....... 42 

John Quincy Adams, . . . . . 51 

Andrew Jackson, ...... 60 

Martin Van Buren . . . . . 72 

William Henry Harrison, ..... 78 

John Tyler, ....... 87 

James K. Polk, ...... 96 

Zachary Taylor, . . . . . . 103 

Millard Fillmore, . . . . . .113 

Franklin Pierce, . . . . . . 121 

James Buchanan, . . . . . .129 

Abraham Lincoln, . . . . . . 138 

Andrew Johnson, . . . . . .147 

Ulysses S. Grant, . . . . . . 156 

Rutherford B. Hayes, . . . . . .167 

James A. Garfield, . . . . . 176 

Chester A. Arthur, . . . . . .185 

Grover Cleveland, ...... 194 

Benjamin Harrison, ...... 203 

William McKinley, . . . . . 210 

Theodore Roosevelt, . . . . . .221 

William H. Taft, ...... 229 

Woodrow Wilson, ...... 237 

Warren G. Harding, . . . . 246 

Calvin Coolidge, ...... 253 













GEORGE WASHINGTON 

FIRST PRESIDENT.—1789—1797. 

Augustine Washington was the owner of an 
estate in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and was 
born at the residence of his father, Lawrence Wash¬ 
ington, on Pope’s Creek, in 1694. He married, 
and was the father of four 
children, two of whom died 
in infancy. The mother died 
in 1728, and the father re¬ 
married two years later, his 
second wife being Mary Ball. 
She became the mother of 
five children, of whom George 
george Washington. Washington was the eldest. 
He was born at Pope’s Creek, Westmoreland 
County, February 22, 1732. 

The mother of Washington was one of the 
noblest of women, and her example and precepts 
had much to do with the development of the char¬ 
acter of her illustrious son. He loved and re¬ 
vered her until her death, which happily did not 
take place until he had proved himself the savior 
of his country, and was elected President of the 
United States. A little volume, containing her 
autograph, was cherished by him as among his 



8 


Lives of the Presidents. 


choicest treasures, and her memory remained a 
blessed influence throughout his long and event¬ 
ful career. Her husband died when George was 
only eleven years old, but her high Christian 
womanhood, her devotion to her children and her 
sweet, tender instruction largely made up for the 
great loss. 

Washington’s father, before his death, removed 
to an estate in Stafford County, on the east¬ 
ern shore of the Rappahannock, opposite Freder¬ 
icksburg, where the son spent his early boyhood. 
He attended school in an “old-field” school house, 
so called because it stood in the middle of a barren 
tract of land. Hobby, the sexton of the parish, 
was his first teacher, and he was a poor one. 
Upon the death of his father, George was sent 
back to the homestead at Pope’s Creek, where he 
lived for a number of years with his half-brother, 
Augustine, who had married, and to whom the 
Westmoreland estate had been left. George was 
instructed in the rudiments of a common school 
education and developed a fondness for surveying, 
in which he became proficient. 

George Washington was an ideal American boy. 
He was fond of athletic exercises, and in running, 
leaping and wrestling surpassed all his playmates. 
Naturally he loved horses and became a perfect 
equestrian. He was not afraid of the most vicious 


George Washington. 


9 


animal. He once leaped upon the back of an 
unbroken colt, which was so angered that he 
straightway entered into a furious struggle, in 
which he meant to kill the boy that had dared to 
try to control him. The fight was a savage one, 
but in the end George killed the colt. 

George Washington always “played fair.” He 
would never take advantage of any one of his play¬ 
mates, and nothing would tempt him to tell a lie. 
It has been said, and no doubt it was true, that he 
would not utter a falsehood to save his life. When 
the other boys fell into a dispute, they left it to 
George Washington to decide. Whatever he said 
was accepted and the quarrel ended, for every one 
knew he was right. He could stand on one bank 
of the Potomac and throw a stone to the other 
shore, a feat which not one man in a thousand 
can perform at this day. He could take a lad 
taller and older than himself, and in a quick, vig¬ 
orous wrestling bout place him on his back every 
time. No one could swim better than he, and 
when he wished to run a race, he always had to 
give the other boy a good start, or he would not 
enter the contest. 

The eldest half-brother, Lawrence, was an of¬ 
ficer in the English service, under Admiral Ver¬ 
non, for whom he formed so great regard that he 
gave his name to his estate on the Potomac. When 


10 


Lives of the Presidents . 


Lawrence came home from one of his cruises, he 
found George such a tall, handsome youth, and 
with so great a fondness for military matters, that 
he felt very proud of him, and urged him to enter 
the English navy. George was delighted, and his 
brother procured a midshipman’s warrant for him 
in 1746. When everything was ready for him to 
leave home, he noticed the troubled look on the 
face of his mother and anxiously asked its cause. 
She replied that she was saddened at the thought 
of having him leave home. 

“Very well, then I will not leave home,” he 
promptly said, and the sunlight came back to the 
sweet, loving countenance. 

Had he felt no sympathy for his mother and 
entered the British navy, how different would have 
been the history of our country ! 

George was barely sixteen years, old when he 
became a surveyor for William Fairfax, the father 
of the wife of Lawrence, and the manager of the 
immense estate of his cousin, Lord Fairfax. He 
was engaged in this arduous work for three years, 
during which he overcame many hardships and 
dangers. He swam mountain torrents, shot wild 
game, slept on the ground in the open air, often 
awakening in the morning with several inches of 
snow resting on his blanket, going without food 
when he could not procure any, but all the time 


George Washington . 


11 


pressing his work until at last it was completed. 
Lord Fairfax was so pleased with the manner in 
which the sturdy youth had performed his task 
that he paid him a large sum of money, amount¬ 
ing in some instances to twenty dollars a day. 

By this time, young Washington had grown 
into a young man, six feet two inches in height 
with the strength of a giant. The only vacation 
he took from his great task was to run home for a 
few days to see and give help to his mother. When 
she looked on the towering figure and felt the 
powerful arms around her frail form as she was 
pressed to his massive breast, she said: “ George, 
you are a good boy; you have never grieved me 
by word or look,” and the most that the proud, 
happy parent would ever say about her son, when 
honors came to him. was: “ George was always a 
good boy.” 

At the age of nineteen Washington was ap¬ 
pointed adjutant-general, with the rank of major. 
His duty was to drill the militia in one of the dis¬ 
tricts into which Virginia was divided, for there 
was danger from the Indians and from the French, 
who were beginning to intrude upon the English 
possessions. He had hardly begun the work, 
when he was obliged to go with his brother Law¬ 
rence to the West Indies. The brother’s health 
was failing, and the voyage was made in the hope 


12 


Lives of the Presidents. 


that it would benefit him. George was absent 
four months, during which he had a violent attack 
of small-pox. His brother stayed longer in the 
West Indies, but died shortly after his return 
home, leaving George as one of the executors of 
his large estate. 

Governor Dinwiddie renewed the appointment 
of Washington as adjutant-general, and he was 
placed in charge of one of the grand military divis¬ 
ions of the State. 

For years England and France had been rivals 
in the New World. The English settlements were 
planted along the Atlantic coast, while those of the 
French were in Canada. France began extending 
her colonies down the Mississippi Valley, intending 
to press on until she reached the Gulf of Mexico. 
She meant to found a great empire in the Missis¬ 
sippi Valley. She thus entered upon lands claimed 
by the English, and it was clear that before long 
the two nations would go to war to decide which 
should be master of the American continent. 

Finding that the French had established posts 
on the banks of the Ohio, so as to confine the 
English settlements within the Allegheny Mount- 
tains, Governor Dinwiddie decided to send a pro¬ 
test to the French commandant. The bearer of 
this message was George Washington. He set 
out with a number of companions, on the last day 


George Washington . 


13 


of October, 1753, and traveled nearly six Hundred 
miles through an unbroken wilderness, the return 
journey being made in the depth of winter. It 
was attended by many perils. In crossing a river 
on a raft, the masses of ice hurled Washington 
into the stream, and had he not been a powerful 
swimmer, he would have been drowned. At 
another time an Indian guide deliberately raised 
his rifle and fired at Washington when only a few 
rods distant, intending to kill him. He missed, 
and when Washington’s infuriated comrade would 
have killed the Indian, Washington forbade it. The 
journey was completed without mishap, and Wash¬ 
ington delivered the reply of the French command¬ 
ant to Governor Dinwiddie. This reply was a re¬ 
fusal to leave the lands claimed by the English, 
and the French and Indian War began. 

Washington was present at the dreadful mas¬ 
sacre of Braddock and his command by the French 
and Indians, in 1755. The disaster was caused by 
Braddock’s refusal to take the advice of the young 
Virginian, and fight the Indians in their own way. 
The whole command would have been slain had 
not Washington and his small company covered 
the retreat of the British troops. 

The deciding battle of the war was fought in 
front of Quebec in 1759, when the French were 
routed and the city taken. France was driven 


14 


Lives of the Presidents . 


from the American continent, of which the English 
became the masters. 

Washington was married in 1759, and the same 
year entered the Virginia House of Burgesses. He 
was a patriot without ambition, except to serve 
his country, and for several years led the quiet 
life of a Virginian planter at Mount Vernon, but 
his matchless talents and great ability drew the 
hopes of the country to him, when the tyranny of 
England drove her American colonies to revolt. 
He was a delegate to the first and second Conti¬ 
nental Congresses, and the second appointed him 
commander-in-chief of the American forces. He 
took command of the armies under the historic 
elm at Cambridge, Mass., July 3,1775, and thence¬ 
forward became the central figure of the Revolu¬ 
tion. It has been truly said that he was the 
Revolution, and in him was centered its success or 
failure. Had he died or been killed, the struggle 
for American independence would have stopped, 
but he was never so much as wounded, and 
through hardships, sufferings, defeats and all man¬ 
ner of discouragements that would have brought 
despair to any other man, he never lost faith in 
the final triumph, and pressed unflinchingly for¬ 
ward until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 
October 19, 1781, brought peace and liberty to his 
country. 


George Washington . 


15 


Washington was not only a great general, but a 
wise statesman. He saw that the nation could 
not exist without a strong government, and he 
presided over the convention which framed the 
Constitution in 1787. He was the unanimous 
choice for President, and was inaugurated at New 
York, then the capital, April 30, 1789. He was 
elected a second time without opposition, and was 
urged to accept a third term, but he was growing 



WASHINGTON’S HOME AT MOUNT VERNON. 

old and feeble and declined. He returned to his 
estate at Mount Vernon, where he was attacked by 
bronchitis, and peacefully passed away December 
14, 1799, mourned by the whole country and re¬ 
vered by all foreign nations. Washington was the 
greatest American that ever lived, and one of the 
truest patriots, most illustrious statesmen and 
grandest figures that have ever appeared in the 
world’s history. 







JOHN ADAMS. 

SECOND PRESIDENT.—1797—1801. 

John Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), 
Massachusetts, October 31, 1735. He was the eld¬ 
est son of John Adams and Susanna Boylston. 
The father possessed considerable means, and gave 
his son a good education. He 
entered Harvard College, 
from which he was graduated 
in 1755. He taught for a 
time in a grammar school at 
Worcester, but soon took up 
the study of law, and, in 
1758, he began the practice 
john adams. G f his profession in Suffolk 

County, but retained his residence at Braintree. 
Six years later he was married to Abigail Smith, 
a lady of high social position and possessed of 
many admirable qualities. 

It was at this period that the embers of the Rev¬ 
olution were kindling. England passed the abom¬ 
inated Stamp Act, which caused the colonies to 
flame with indignation. Adams was one of the 
most intense of patriots. At a meeting in Brain¬ 
tree he presented a vigorous set of resolutions 
which were adopted without the change of a word 



John Adams . 


17 


by nearly fifty towns in Massachusetts. The dis¬ 
turbance would have become more serious had not 
England, frightened by the storm she had raised, 
repealed the Stamp Act. 

His growing practice led Mr. Adams to move to 
Boston in 1768. He was looked upon as so dan¬ 
gerous an opponent of the tyrannous measures of 
the crown, that he was offered the office of advo¬ 
cate-general in the court of admiralty. It was 
hoped that by this means he would feel compelled 
to defend the measures of the home government; 
but the young patriot was not to be silenced in that 
manner and refused the bribe. 

We have learned in the history of our country 
that a riot took place in Boston between the citi¬ 
zens of the town and the soldiers stationed there. 
It occurred on the night of March 5, 1770, and 
three persons were killed and several wounded. 
The people were so angered that they were ready 
to lynch the soldiers, but the latter were saved 
from that fate and not brought to justice for sev¬ 
eral months, by which time the passions had con¬ 
siderably cooled. Eight of them were placed on 
trial and all acquitted except two, who were found 
guilty of manslaughter and were punished by 
being branded on the hand. 

Mr. Adams showed high moral courage by act¬ 
ing as counsel for the soldiers. Most politicians 


18 


Lives of the Presidents. 


would have been afraid of hurting their popularity 
by such an act; but his fellow-citizens showed their 
appreciation of his manly course by electing him a 
member of the legislature. There he and his 
cousin, Samuel Adams, became the leading ad¬ 
visors of their countrymen in their resistance to 
the oppressive measures of the British government. 
The stubborn George III., king of England, was 
angry with his American colonies and determined 
to tax them without allowing them a representa¬ 
tive in Parliament, the body which passed the 
laws for the government of the colonies. This was 
“taxation without representation,” and was a most 
unjust act by the savage monarch. 

In the hope of bringing the king to his senses, 
the colonies sent representatives to what is known 
as the First Continental Congress, which assem¬ 
bled in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, Georgia 
alone being unrepresented. The resolutions on 
colonial rights passed by that body were drafted 
by Adams, he being one of the five delegates 
chosen from Massachusetts. On his return home, 
he was elected a member of the revolutionary con¬ 
gress of Massachusetts, then assembled at Con¬ 
cord. 

The second Continental Congress met in Phila¬ 
delphia, May 10, 1775, after the battle of Lexing¬ 
ton. Even then there was a general hope that 


John Adams . 


19 


England would give to the colonies the rights 
which they demanded and that war would be 
averted. John and Samuel Adams were probably 
the only ones who saw that the Revolution had 
begun and would have to be fought out to the 
end. The vision of John Adams was clearer than 
that of his fellow-patriots, and when he proposed 
George Washington as commander-in-chief of the 
American army, Congress responded with an en¬ 
thusiasm that left no doubt of its patriotism. 

This body, therefore, was a revolutionary one, 
and its existence was continuous. As the war pro¬ 
gressed, however, it had to shift its quarters from 
one point to another in order to escape capture by 
the enemy. Thus it sat in Philadelphia from May 
until December, 1776, then at Baltimore until 
March, 1777, then at Philadelphia again, at Lan¬ 
caster, Pa., in September, 1777, at York until the 
following June, at Philadelphia again from July, 
1778, to June, 1783, then at Princeton until Novem¬ 
ber, then at Annapolis until June, 1784. In 
November and December of that year it met at 
Trenton. From January, 1785, until its last record¬ 
ed session (October 21, 1788) it sat in New York. 

While a member of this Congress, Adams drew 
up a body of regulations, which afterward formed 
the basis of the American naval code. He also 
persuaded Congress to recommend the different 


20 


Lives of the Presidents . 


colonies to form governments of their own, based 
wholly upon popular suffrage. By the power of 
his arguments, he carried through a resolution re¬ 
questing the colonies to form independent govern¬ 
ments. 

This was the first decisive step toward independ¬ 
ence. On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry 
Lee, of Virginia, moved the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence and John Adams seconded the motion. 
There was a long and warm debate over the ques¬ 
tion. The best speech of Adams’ life was made in 
support of the Declaration. No man did as much 
as he in carrying through to success the immortal 
Declaration of Independence, which was signed 
and adopted July 4, 1776. 

The prodigious labors of Adams in Congress 
are proved by the fact that he was a member of 
ninety committees and chairman of twenty-five. 
It may be said that he crystallized American sen¬ 
timent in favor of independence. After the sur¬ 
render of Burgoyne, in the autumn of 1777, Adams 
superseded Silas Dean as commissioner to France, 
and reached that country in April, 1778. France 
had already formed an alliance with the United 
States, but our three commissioners to that coun¬ 
try had gotten matters into shocking confusion 
and were quarreling among themselves. Adams 
took hold with his accustomed vigor and soon 


John Adams . 


21 


brought order out of chaos. To end the disgrace¬ 
ful condition, he recommended that Congress 
should intrust the affairs at the French court to 
one minister instead of three commissioners. The 
suggestion was adopted and Benjamin Franklin 
was made minister, doing his work with sound 
judgment and success. 

His labors finished in France, Adams returned 
home and was elected delegate from Braintree to 
the convention for framing a new constitution for 
Massachusetts. Before he could complete the 
work, he was sent, in 1779, as a commissioner to 
treat for peace with Great Britain, but obstacles 
were thrown in his way which prevented any 
fruits from the enterprise. Besides, England was 
not ready to treat for peace. 

In the summer of 1780, Congress appointed Mr. 
Adams minister to Holland to negotiate a loan. 
He met with most insidious and persistent opposi¬ 
tion, but triumphed over all. Holland recognized 
the independence of the United States in April, 
1782, and some months later a Dutch loan of 
$2,000,000 was negotiated, followed by a treaty 
of amity and commerce. This was the second 
treaty ratified by the United States—that with 
France being the first with a foreign government. 

The treaty made with Great Britain in 1783, was 
one of the most signal and brilliant triumphs of 


22 


Lives of the Presidents . 


American diplomacy, the credit for which belongs 
to John Adams and John Jay. In 1785, Adams 
was appointed our first minister to Great Britain. 
He was churlishly treated by the king and repre¬ 
sentatives of the crown, and, because of the trou¬ 
blous times at home, before the adoption of the 
Constitution, was unable to form a treaty of com-; 
merce with England. The government was so 
stubborn and deaf to reason, that Adams in disgust 
asked to be recalled. His request was granted in 
1788, Congress thanking him for his great serv¬ 
ices while abroad. 

Shortly after he came home, the Constitution 
was adopted by the respective States, and interest 
centered in the formation of the new government. 
As we have learned, all eyes were turned to Wash¬ 
ington, who was unanimously chosen President. 
The law at that time and for some years after¬ 
wards was that the candidate receiving the next 
highest number of votes should become Vice Presi¬ 
dent. The number of electoral votes cast was 
sixty-nine, of which Adams received thirty-four, 
the remainder being scattered. Thus he became 
the first Vice President of the United States. 

While Washington was President, the two great 
political parties of our country were formed. The 
Federalists favored a strong central government. 
Afterwards the Whig party was formed upon its 


John Adams . 


23 


ruins, and it, in turn, gave way to the Repub¬ 
lican party of to-day. The first Republicans be¬ 
lieved in reserving all the powers possible to the 
respective States, and they, after a time, took the 
name of Democrats. Adams was always a Feder¬ 
alist, and, in 1796, when Washington refused to be 
a candidate for a third term, he was put forward 
as the nominee of the Federalists. He received 71 
votes, Jefferson 68, Thomas Pinckney 59, Aaron 
Burr 30, and Samuel Adams 15, with a number 
scattering. Thus we gained a Federalist Presi¬ 
dent and a Republican Vice President. 

Adams had a turbulent administration. Eng¬ 
land and France were engaged in a tremendous 
war, in which America suffered from both sides. 
The Republicans sympathized with France and 
were ready to take up arms in her defense, while 
the extreme Federalists hated France so intensely 
that they were willing to help England against 
her. Washington, with that far-seeing wisdom 
which always guided his conduct,was as immovable 
as a rock in favor of strict neutrality and against 
all foreign entanglements. Adams was equally 
resolute, and fortunate for our country was it that 
such was the fact. At one time the feeling between 
France and the United States became so tense that 
war seemed to be inevitable. Several engagements 
took place on the ocean, in which our ships were 


24 


Lives of the Presidents . 


uniformly victorious. Washington was summoned 
from Mount Vernon to take chief command again, 
but happily a treaty of peace was made with Na¬ 
poleon, who had fought his way to the French 
throne, and the war cloud passed. 

In the election of 1800, Adams was defeated by 
Thomas Jefferson. Adams was a vain man, and 
was so offended by what he thought was a slight, 
that he left Washington early on the morning of 
March 4th, refusing to be present at the inaugura¬ 
tion of his successor. It was an unworthy weak¬ 
ness on the part of one of the ablest and purest 
patriots of our country. He passed a quiet and 
uneventful life at his home in Braintree, and by a 
strange co-incidence died on the 4th of July, 1826, 
just fifty years after the adoption of the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence, with which he had more to 
do than any other man unless it was the author of 
the document itself. 


THOMAS JEFFERSON. 


THIRD PRESIDENT.—1801—1809. 

Thomas Jefferson was born at Shad well, Albe¬ 
marle County, Virginia, April 2,1743. His father, 
Peter Jefferson, was in good circumstances, the 
owner of thirty slaves and nearly two thousand 


acres of land. He had ten 
children, of whom Thomas 
was the third. From his fa¬ 
ther the son inherited a 
sturdy frame, a fondness for 
athletic sports, and for math¬ 
ematics. He loved to hunt 
and grew to the same stature 
as Washington, though his 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 


frame was more gaunt, and lacked the grace of the 
Father of his Country. In his youth, Jefferson was 
freckled, with sandy hair and large hands and feet. 
With years some of these peculiarities were modi¬ 
fied and his appearance became more pleasing. 

Thomas Jefferson was only fourteen years old 
when his father died. He received good prepara¬ 
tory instruction, and was graduated from the Col¬ 
lege of William and Mary. He was a remarkable 
student, applying himself sometimes for ten, 
twelve and even fifteen hours a day, but he had laid 


26 


Lives of the Presidents. 


the foundations of such rugged health that he was 
able to stand this hard application without injury. 

Jefferson was probably the most learned Presi¬ 
dent we have ever had. He could write and con¬ 
verse fluently in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and 
Italian. A British musician, who played duets 
with him on the violin, declared that he was the 
finest amateur performer on that instrument that 
he ever met. Jefferson was never an attractive 
speaker, but he was an absolute master of style. 
In the expression of his thoughts on paper he had 
no superior. 

Upon his graduation, he took up the study of 
law, applying his great mental powers with the 
same diligent industry and energy that he had 
given to his studies when in college. He achieved 
extraordinary success. He had sixty-eight cases 
the first year, which soon increased to five hundred 
annually, the fees from which amounted to $2,500, 
a large income for those times. When he became 
of age, he assumed the management of the family 
estate. He was extremely fond of farming and 
gardening, and when his lands were greatly in¬ 
creased after his marriage, there were few shrubs 
and plants which could stand the Virginia climate 
that were not growing on his place. 

In May, 1769, he took his seat in the House of 
Burgesses, of which Washington was a member a* 


Thomas Jefferson. 


27 


the time. A remarkable and praiseworthy resolu¬ 
tion which he adopted on the eve of his illustrious 
career, and which he strictly followed to the end, 
was never to engage while in public office in any 
enterprise for the improvement of his fortune. 
What a noble record would be that of our public 
men if all of them lived up to that rule! 

On the 1st of January, 1772, Jefferson was mar¬ 
ried to Mrs. Martha Skelton, a widow without chil¬ 
dren. In the following year, the father of his wife 
died, leaving to her an estate of 40,000 acres and one 
hundred and thirty-five slaves. Jefferson was happy 
in clearing his land, planting trees and shrubs and 
looking after the cultivation and development of his 
possessions. Had this been at any other period in 
our history, it is probable he would have lived and 
died a prosperous farmer, popular among his neigh¬ 
bors, but little known beyond the confines of his 
own county or State. The Revolution, however, 
was at hand, and his ability and patriotism drove 
him into the momentous struggle. He prepared 
the “Draught of Instructions” for the Virginia 
delegation to Congress which met in Philadelphia 
in September, 1774. These were so clear, so 
pointed, so logical and so unanswerable that they 
gave great offense in England, where they were 
published, and, to quote the w r ords of Jefferson, the 
pamphlet procured for him “the honor of having 


28 


Lives of the Presidents . 


his name inserted in a long list of proscriptions 
enrolled in a bill of attainder.” 

A convention met at Richmond in March, 1775, 
to consider what course Virginia should take in 
the impending struggle. It was at this session 
that Patrick Henry made his burning appeal 
that turned the tide and swept away all timidity 
and hesitation. It was decided to raise and drill 
infantry companies and horsemen in all the coun¬ 
ties. Among the members intrusted with this 
duty were Richard Henry Lee, George Washing¬ 
ton and Thomas Jefferson. A vacancy occurring 
shortly afterwards in the delegation to Congress, 
by the appointment of Washington as com¬ 
mander-in-chief, Jefferson went thither and took 
his place. 

We have already learned the principal facts in 
the history of the Declaration of Independence. 
Jefferson was chairman of the committee appointed 
to draft it, his associates being Benjamin Frank¬ 
lin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. 
Livingston, the last-named afterwards being Chan¬ 
cellor of New York and connected with Robert Ful¬ 
ton in the invention of the steamboat. As chair¬ 
man, Jefferson was called upon to write the docu¬ 
ment, which was warmly debated in Congress, and 
a few changes made, but when its adoption took 
place, it was essentially as it came from the master 


Thomas Jefferson . 


29 


hand that framed it. He was also a member of the 
committee which selected as a seal the legend £ 
pluribus unum. 

Jefferson longed for his family and home, and 
he now resigned and went thither. His wife was 
in poor health and his estate demanded attention. 
He was again a member of the State legislature, 
and declined the appointment to go abroad, as 
joint commissioner with Franklin and Deane, to the 
court at Paris. Among the beneficent acts which 
he secured in Virginia was the abolishment of the 
law of entail, the principle of primogeniture, the 
fearful punishments prescribed for many offenses, 
and the severance of the church and State. He 
also secured the removal of the capital from Will¬ 
iamsburg to Richmond. 

In the month of January, 1779, Jefferson was 
elected by the legislature of his State as governor 
to succeed Patrick Henry. The two years which 
followed were stormy and trying. He strained 
every energy to aid Washington and help General 
Gates in the South. All that he had done in the 
latter direction was destroyed by the disastrous 
defeat of Gates at Camden, in August, 1780. 
Several times the legislature of Virginia was forced 
to flee to escape capture by the enemy, who over¬ 
ran Monticello, Jefferson’s estate, and came within 
a hair of making him prisoner. Jefferson was in 


30 Lives of the Presidents . 

the saddle day and night, and put forth herculean 
efforts to stay the tide of disaster. He felt that the 
crisis was so desperate that one man should wield 
the civil and military power. He, therefore, re¬ 
fused to be a candidate for governor for the third 
time, and secured the election of General Thomas 
Nelson. Permanent peace and an end to the 
trouble came with the surrender of - Cornwallis, in 
October, 1781. 

Jefferson suffered many domestic afflictions. In 
September, 1782, his wife, to whom he was devot¬ 
edly attached, died and four of his six children 
passed away in infancy. In the following year, he 
was elected to Congress and took his seat in 
November at Annapolis. He was the author of 
the decimal system of currency, and later prepared 
a manual of parliamentary practice, which has 
been in use in Congress ever since. 

In 1784 he was sent to France as Plenipotenti¬ 
ary, and while there saw the outbreak of the awful 
French revolution, in which a million lives were 
sacrificed. In France,too, he wrote his “Notes on 
Virginia.” Returning to America in 1789, he was 
appointed, much against his wishes, Secretary of 
State by Washington. His love for that great 
man and his own sense of duty caused him to 
accept the office. His sympathies were strongly 
Republican, while Alexander Hamilton, another 


Thomas Jefferson . 


31 


member of the Cabinet, and one of the ablest of 
statesmen, was intensely Federal in his feelings. 
Two such master minds could not agree, and it 
required all of Washington’s tact to prevent an 
open rupture. Finally, to his great relief, Jefferson 
persuaded Washington to accept his resignation in 
1794. One other reason for Jefferson’s wish to 
leave the national capital was that his salary of 
$3,500 was too meagre for his support, and his 
estate in Virginia was running to waste. 

In 1796, as we have learned, he narrowly missed 
beating John Adams for the Presidency, and, in 
accordance with the law at that time, became Vice- 
President. In 1800, he and Aaron Burr each re¬ 
ceived seventy-three electoral votes. This threw 
the election into the House of Representatives, 
where, after a long struggle, Jefferson was chosen. 
His first administration was so successful that he 
was elected for a second term without serious oppo- • 
sition. 

Many important events took place during the 
eight years that he was President. In 1803, Na¬ 
poleon Bonaparte sold to the United States the 
Territory of Louisiana. It must be borne in mind 
that the Territory known by that name was of 
enormous area, being more extensive indeed than 
the whole United States at the close of the Revolu¬ 
tion. It was 1,171,931 miles in extent, comprising 


32 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Alabama and Mississippi, south of 31 degrees, all 
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, 
North and South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, 
west of the Mississippi, most of Kansas, a large 
part of Colorado and Wyoming. The price paid 
was $15,000,000, and no such valuable territory 
was ever secured for so slight a sum. 

So little was known of the western portion of 
our country that, in the spring of 1804, Captains 
Lewis and Clarke led an exploring expedition 
which penetrated the Columbia River and passed 
down that to the Pacific. The expedition was 
gone two years and added much to our knowledge 
of the vast section. 

It had been the custom for many years for the 
leading Christian nations to pay a sum of money 
to the ruler of Tripoli, one of the Barbary States 
in northern Africa, on condition that his pirates 
should let their vessels alone. This impudent 
rogue declared war against the United States be¬ 
cause it was slow in paying tribute. Before he 
knew of his danger, his capital was bombarded by 
our ships, and he was so terrified that he eagerly 
signed the treaty laid before him. 

In 1807, Robert Fulton, an ingenious inventor, 
who had been experimenting for years, completed 
his steamboat, the Clermont , which left the dock in 
New York and made the voyage to Albany and 


Thomas Jefferson . 33 

back at a speed of about five miles an hour. This 
was the introduction of successful steam naviga¬ 
tion. 

Jefferson is looked upon as the founder of the 
Democratic party of to-day. He was very simple 
in his tastes and opposed to everything in the na¬ 
ture of pomp and show. The story is that on his 
second inauguration he rode on horseback, alone 
and unattended to the Capitol. He stopped the 
public receptions because he thought they savored 
too much of the customs of royalty, and even tried 
to keep his birthday a secret, sc as to prevent his 
friends from celebrating it. 

He was so famous that crowds continually vis¬ 
ited Monticello to see him. His hospitality made 
him poor. It was an impressive fact, in which 
many saw a sacred meaning, that, like John Adams 
Jefferson died on the 4th of July, 1826, just half a 
century after the adoption of the Declaration of 
Independence, of which he was the author. 


JAMES MADISON. 

FOURTH PRESIDENT.—1809-1817. 

James Madison was born at Port Conway, Vir¬ 
ginia, March 16, 1751, and was the eldest of twelve 
children. His father, also named James, married 
Nellie Conway, September 15, 1749. The elder 
Madison was in circum¬ 
stances which enabled him 
to give his children a good 
education. James was care¬ 
fully instructed in boyhood 
at school, and prepared at 
home for college by a neigh¬ 
boring clergyman. Enter- 
tering Princeton College, 
he was graduated in 1772. 

‘ He remained another year at that institution, study¬ 
ing Hebrew, and, returning home, continued his 
studies, while instructing his brothers and sisters. 
He became a learned scholar, being gifted by 
nature with a sound judgment, bright intellect and 
great capacity for work. 

His patriotic sentiments and high integrity were 
so well known, that when the people of Orange 
county deemed it wise, in 1774, to appoint a com¬ 
mittee of safety, he was a member. Two years 



James Madison . 


35 


later, he was chosen as a delegate to the State con¬ 
vention which met at Williamsburg, and assisted 
in framing a constitution for the State. At his 
suggestion a clause in the Bill of Rights was 
adopted, which declared that every person was 
entitled to the free exercise of religion, according 
to the dictates of conscience. He was a member 
of the first legislature under the new constitution, 
and by that body elected to the governor’s coun¬ 
cil. In 1780, he was sent as a delegate to the Con¬ 
tinental Congress. He was a member until 1784, 
and, although young and modest, was appointed on 
several leading committees and impressed his per¬ 
sonality upon the most important proceedings of 
the body. 

In 1784 he was re-elected to the Virginia legisla¬ 
ture, where he devoted himself to the advocacy of 
measures meant to give solidity to the Federal gov¬ 
ernment. A strong effort was made by the legis¬ 
lature to pass a law taxing all the people for the 
support of “teachers of the Christian religion.” 
No one saw the danger of such a step more clearly 
than Madison, and, though he stood alone at first 
in opposition, he succeeded in defeating the dan¬ 
gerous measure. 

This was but one of the important enactments 
for which he deserves credit. At that time, all the 
States had the right to issue promissory notes and 


36 


Lives of the Presidents . 


make them legal tender. The power was fraught 
with the gravest peril, involving financial confusion 
and ruin. Madison and a few leading spirits saved 
Virginia from the pitfall. 

It was as apparent to him as to Washington and 
Hamilton that the country could be saved from 
anarchy only by the organization of a strong 
national government, with clearly defined powers. 
His work along that line in the Virginia legisla¬ 
ture led to the convention, which resulted in the 
framing of the Constitution of the United States. 
The first convention met at Annapolis, September 
11, 1786, but the only States represented were Vir¬ 
ginia, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. This insufficiency compelled an adjourn¬ 
ment, and the second convention was held in Phila¬ 
delphia in May, 1787. As we have learned, the 
able minds that thus came together gradually 
evolved the Constitution of the United States, the 
wisest instrument ever framed to secure good gov¬ 
ernment. To this beneficent end no man, with the 
possible exception of Alexander Hamilton and 
Washington, contributed so much as James Madi¬ 
son. 

After the formation of the Constitution, the great 
work remained of securing its adoption by the 
the States, for, until nine of them accepted it, the 
instrument had no binding power. The opposition 


James Madison . 


37 


in several of the States was so determined that fora 
long time, there were grave fears that it would fail 
and the country go to ruin. Hamilton won over 
New York, while Madison was fiercely confronted in 
Virginia by the eloquent Patrick Henry and by 
Richard Henry Lee, each with an ardent band of 
adherents. At the end of a month’s bitter debate, 
Virginia adopted the Constitution by the slender 
majority of 89 to 79. 

Henry was so disappointed at the result, due 
mainly to Madison, that he succeeded in prevent¬ 
ing his selection as one of the first senators. 
Then, to keep him out of Congress altogether, 
resort was had to “gerrymandering,” or dividing 
his district, so as to give his opponents a majority 
of the votes. The scheme failed, and he was 
elected a member of the first national House of 
Representatives, where from the beginning, he was 
a leader. His thorough grasp of the situation led 
him to move at once for the raising of revenue by 
tariff and tonnage duties, and to create the execu¬ 
tive departments of Foreign Affairs, of the Treas¬ 
ury and of War. In order to meet the objections 
of many that the Constitution did not contain a 
Bill of Rights, he offered twelve amendments, ten 
of which were adopted in 1791. 

Madison continued a member of Congress until 
the close of Washington’s second term, when he 


38 


Lives of the Presidents . 


withdrew for a time from public life. Although a 
resolute debater, never accepting a defeat so long 
as the slightest hope of success remained, he was 
always courteous, fair and even generous to his 
opponents. He was a thorough gentleman, and 
commanded the respect of every one. Two years 
previous to his withdrawal from Congress, he mar¬ 
ried Mrs. Dolly Payne Todd, an accomplished and 
beautiful young widow, who afterward became one 
of the most brilliant mistresses of the White House. 

In 1798, the feeling in this country became so in¬ 
flamed against France, because of her high-handed 
disregard of our rights, that the Federalist party 
in Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Laws. 
The Alien Act authorized the President to banish 
from the country all aliens or foreigners whom he 
might deem dangerous to its safety or to be plotting 
against it. The Sedition Act permitted the imposi¬ 
tion of heavy fines and imprisonment upon any 
who should conspire to oppose the United States 
government or laws, or who should print or publish 
any false, scandalous or malicious writings against 
the government, Congress or the President, in¬ 
tended to bring disrepute or hatred upon them or 
stir up sedition. 

These arbitrary laws roused wide-spread indig¬ 
nation, and were denounced by the majority of the 
States as unconstitutional. Kentucky and Vir- 


James Madison . 


39 


ginia passed strenuous resolutions against them, 
those of the former being written by Jefferson, 
while those of Virginia came from the pen of 
Madison. The protests from every section of the 
country led to the repeal of the laws in 1800 and 
1801. 

In 1799, Mr. Madison was once more elected to 
the Virginia legislature. No one held his worth 
and ability in higher appreciation than Jefferson, 
who, upon his elevation to the Presidency, urged 
him to become his Secretary of State. Madison 
accepted the office, and held it throughout both 
terms of Jefferson. He proved a faithful and able 
assistant, though he was better fitted by taste and 
training to construct or build up and frame meas¬ 
ures than to act as an executive officer. 

Madison, however, had steadily grown in the 
confidence of the country, so that at the close of 
Jefferson’s second term, he was put forward as the 
candidate by the Republicans. Of the electoral 
votes he received 122 to 47 for Cotesworth Pinck¬ 
ney and 6 for George Clinton of New York. He 
was re-elected in 1812, defeating DeWitt Clinton. 

It will be noted that Madison was President of 
the United States throughout the War of 1812. 
That war was brought about by a series of out¬ 
rages on the part of Great Britain, in which she 
enforced what she termed the “ right of search” 


40 


Lives of the Presidents. 


against our vessels. She stopped them on the 
high seas, questioned and scrutinized the crews 
for deserters from her navy. When she suspected 
that one of the seamen was an Englishman or 
had left the service without a discharge, she car¬ 
ried him away and hanged or forced him to re¬ 
enter the British navy. In this way hundreds of 
Americans were torn from their ships and pun¬ 
ished upon charges of which they were innocent. 

The United States protested, but we had no 
navy, while that of Great Britain was the most 
powerful in the world. Several skirmishes took 
place on the ocean, until the conduct of England 
became so unbearable that the United States de* 
dared war against her in June, 1812. 

The conduct of the war by the Americans on 
land was not creditable. Blunders, failures and 
defeats were numerous, and there was much dis¬ 
satisfaction with the government. In August, 
1814, the city of Washington was captured and a 
number of public buildings burned. President 
Madison was not a soldier and his conduct of the 
war was feeble. The American privateers, how¬ 
ever, won imperishable glory on the ocean, where 
they humbled the pride of Great Britain and per¬ 
formed deeds that received the admiration of all 
nations. The war came to an end early in 1815, 
and, although there have been several grave dis- 


James Madison . 


41 


putes with Great Britain since, it is hardly pos¬ 
sibly that two such great Christian nations can 
ever take tip arms again against each other. 

Having reached the close of his second term, 
Madison retired to his handsome estate of Mont¬ 
pelier, in his native State, where he found tran¬ 
quil and happy enjoyment in the society of his 
books, his family and his numerous friends. Old 
age came gently to him, and serene in the respect 
and love of his countrymen, and with the sweet 
assurance of a life’s work well done, he quietly 
passed away, June 28, 1836. 


JAMES MONROE. 

FIFTH PRESIDENT.—1817-1825. 

James Monroe was born in Westmoreland 
County, Virginia, April 28, 1758. His father was 
Spence Monroe, and his mother a sister of Judge 
Joseph Jones, who served two terms from Virginia 
in the Continental Congress. 
He spent his boyhood at 
home, and, having been pre¬ 
pared for college, entered 
that of William and Mary, 
but had not advanced far in 
his studies when the Revo¬ 
lutionary war broke out. 

Young Monroe was a pa¬ 
triot in a patriotic commu¬ 
nity, and, with several members of the faculty 
and a large number of students, he enlisted in the 
Continental army, in 1776, when barely eighteen 
years old. 

He did good service in the war for independence, 
fighting valiantly at Trenton, Brandywine and 
Monmouth. At Trenton, Sumter and Monroe led 
a charge and captured a Hessian battery, just as 
it was about to open on the Americans. In this 
exploit, he received a sharp wound in the shoulder. 



James Monroe . 


43 


In 1777-78, he was a volunteer aide on the staff of 
Lord Stirling, who inherited his title from his 
father, but was born in this country, and was an 
ardent patriot throughout the war. Washington 
was so pleased with Monroe’s services that he 
recommended him for a commission in the State 
troops of Virginia, but was not successful. 

Monroe must have had a fondness for military 
life, for when Governor Jefferson sent him as 
military commissioner to gather information re¬ 
garding the condition of the Southern army, he 
was much disappointed at being excluded from 
active military service, but the war was near its 
end, and nothing more in that line was done 'by him. 

He entered upon his public career in 1782, 
when he was elected to the Virginia assembly and 
appointed a member of the executive council. He 
was chosen three times to the Congress of the 
Confederation, where despite his youth, his ear¬ 
nestness and ability gave him great influence. In 
the latter part of 1784, he was appointed one of 
the nine judges to decide the boundary dispute 
between Massachusetts and New York. He found 
his views so at variance with the others regarding 
the right to navigate the Mississippi, that he re¬ 
fused to serve with them and resigned. 

Monroe was among those who saw the necessity 
of establishing a central national government and 


44 


Lives of the Presidents. 


deserves credit for aiding in bringing about the 
convention which framed the Constitution, but he 
was jealous of the rights of the Southern States, 
and so dissatisfied with some provisions of the 
Constitution, that he joined with Patrick Henry 
and others in opposing its adoption by Virginia. 
His misgivings as to the wisdom of the instrument 
did not leave him for many years afterwards. 

Monroe’s service in Congress expired in 1786, 
and it was his intention to practice law in Freder¬ 
icksburg, though he was not specially fond of the 
life. Upon the adoption of the Constitution, Rich¬ 
ard Henry Lee and William Grayson were chosen 
the first senators from Virginia. Grayson soon 
died and Monroe was elected by the legislature to 
take his place. He remained in the Senate from 
December 6, 1790, to May, 1794, when he was 
made an envoy to France. He was surprised by 
his appointment, for he was an intense Anti-Fed¬ 
eralist, and was selected by Washington to succeed 
Gouverneur Morris, a pronounced Federalist. 
Washington, with his usual wisdom, sought by 
this means to help preserve the balance between 
the two parties, and he knew that Monroe would 
be acceptable to France, with whom relations were 
in a delicate condition. Indeed, Monroe’s expres¬ 
sion of friendship to the French convention passed 
the bounds of discretion and led to his reproof, and 


James Monroe . 


45 


finally to his supersedure by Charles C. Pinckney. 

His course had increased his popularity with 
the Anti-Federalists, and he was elected governor 
of Virginia, holding the office from 1799 to 1802. 
Jefferson never withdrew his confidence from 
Monroe, and, in 1802, sent him as an envoy to 
France, to assist Robert R. Livingston, the Amer¬ 
ican minister, in negotiating the purchase of Lou¬ 
isiana, which, as we have learned, took place in 
1803. 

From Paris, Monroe went to London, having 
been accredited to the Court of St. James, and after¬ 
wards visited Spain, where he failed to secure the 
cession of Florida. Returning to London, he aided 
William Pinckney in concluding a treaty with 
Great Britain. When Jefferson came to examine 
the treaty, he found that it contained no provision 
against the impressment of American seamen nor 
payment for the losses incurred by Americans 
because of the seizure of their vessels. The Presi¬ 
dent was so dissatisfied that he refused to send the 
treaty to the Senate. Monroe came home, where 
his district elected him to the State Assembly for 
the third time, and in 1811 again chose him gov¬ 
ernor, but Madison almost immediately appointed 
him his Secretary of State. He held the office from 
1811 to 1817, also acting as Secretary of War in 
1814-15. His vigor in the prosecution of war 


46 


Lives of the Presidents . 


measures added greatly to his popularity among 
his countrymen. 

In 1816, he was elected President of the United 
States, receiving 183 electoral votes against 34 for 
Rufus King the Federalist candidate. In 1820, the 
Federalist party was dead and Monroe received 
every electoral vote except one. He was entitled 
to that also, but Governor Plutner, the member 
from New Hampshire, declared that no man beside 
Washington ought ever to receive the honor of a 
unanimous choice, so without protest from the 
rest, who appreciated his motive, he cast one vote 
for Adams. 

The administrations of Monroe were among the 
most interesting in our history. During his first 
term, sectional passions seemed to have cooled and 
the people were so strongly bound together that 
the period is often referred to as the “era of good 
feeling.’’ The country was rapidly recovering 
from the ravages of war and all energies were now 
turned to the development of its boundless re¬ 
sources. Florida was added to the United States 
by the payment of $5,000,000 to Spain, and Mis¬ 
sissippi (1817), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), and 
Missouri (1821) were admitted to the Union. 

In 1820, negro slavery had almost wholly dis¬ 
appeared from the States north of Virginia. It 
remained profitable in the South because of the 


James Monroe. 


47 


invention of the cotton-gin. When Missouri asked 
for admission, the South wished that it should be 
a slave State, while the majority of the members of 
Congress from the North vehemently opposed. 
The quarrel lasted for two years, during which 
there were threats of breaking up the Union and 
many foresaw the tremendous struggle which 
came forty years later. The dispute was ended in 
1820 by the adoption of the Missouri Compromise, 
which permitted Missouri to be admitted as a slave 
State, but excluded slavery from that time forward 
from all new territories, west of the Mississippi, 
and north of the southern boundary of Missouri. 

One of the memorable incidents of Monroe’s 
second administration was the visit made by Lafay¬ 
ette to this country. The American nation regarded 
him with peculiar affection, as having been the 
trusted friend of Washington, and a nobleman who 
gave up his brilliant prospects in France and crossed 
the ocean to serve in the patriot army without 
pay. He came back in 1824, when an old man, to 
look upon the nation which was an infant when he 
left it. He had been treated ill in his own coun¬ 
try, but no visitor ever received so great honor as 
he, when he landed on our shores. He was greeted 
everywhere with heartfelt welcome, and the year 
which he spent in traveling from State to State 
was a continual round of rejoicings and honors. 


48 


Lives of the Presidents . 


When he returned to France, he was sent back tn 
a United States frigate just launched and named in 
honor of him, and he carried with him a present 
of $200,000 and the deed of a township of public 
lands. 

Monroe had been President but a short time, 
when he visited all the military posts in the north 
and east, with a view of fully learning the capabili¬ 
ties of the country for defense in the event of 
future hostilities. He was dressed in a blue mili¬ 
tary coat of homespun, light-colored breeches and 
a cocked hat, by which the people were reminded 
that he had been a soldier during the Revolution. 
His simple manners and modest deportment won 
him thousands of friends and greatly increased the 
popularity of his administration. His illustrious 
friend Jefferson said: “If Monroe’s soul were 
turned inside out, not a spot would be found on it.” 

The one great measure, however, which will 
make the administrations of Monroe memorable 
was the enunciation of the “ Monroe Doctrine.” 
After the overthrow of Napoleon Bonaparte, France, 
Russia, Prussia and Austria formed an alliance for 
the purpose of preserving the balance of power, 
and suppressing uprisings within one another’s 
dominions. The Spanish colonies in America had 
revolted and the United States had recognized 
their independence, but there were rumors that the 


James Monroe . 


49 


alliance intended to reduce them to submission. 
George Canning, the British Secretary of State, 
proposed that the United States should join with 
England to prevent such conquest. Monroe con¬ 
sulted with Jefferson, Madison, Calhoun and John 
Quincy Adams, and, in his annual message to 
Congress in 1823, embodied a clause, framed by 
Adams, his Secretary of State, which has ever 
since been known as the “ Monroe Doctrine.” 

Referring to the proposed action of the allied 
powers, the message said that we “should con¬ 
sider any attempt on their part to extend their 
system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dan¬ 
gerous to our peace and safety,” adding, “ that the 
American continents, by the free and independent 
condition which they have assumed and maintain, 
are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for 
future colonization by any European powers.” 

This clear declaration has won a place in the 
affections of the American people beside the Con¬ 
stitution and the Declaration of Independence. 
The Emperor Louis Napoleon, attempted the con¬ 
quest of Mexico, while we were in the agony of 
civil war and were powerless to prevent him. But 
as soon as the Union was restored, he was notified 
to leave. Well aware of the consequences of his 
failure to heed the warning, he lost no time in 
withdrawing his army. So when, on December 17, 


50 


Lives of the Presidents . 


1895, President Cleveland sent his message to 
Congress regarding England’s encroachment upon 
Venezuela, which bore the appearance of a viola¬ 
tion of the Monroe Doctrine, the response of the 
country was instant and enthusiastic in support of 
the President’s action. 

Monroe retired to private life at the close of his 
second term, spending a part of his time at Oak 
Hill, Loudon county, Virginia, and a part in the 
city of New York. He had married, in 1786, a 
daughter of Lawrence Kortright, of New York, 
and was the father of two daughters. He died in 
the city of New York, July 4, 1831. In 1858, his 
ashes were removed to Richmond, Virginia, and 
rest in the beautiful Holywood Cemetery. 


JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

SIXTH PRESIDENT.—1825-1829. 

John Quincy Adams, son of the second Presi¬ 
dent, was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, 
July 11, 1767. No one could have received 
more careful training than he. When only ten 
years old, he went with his 
father to France, and was 
sent to a noted school near 
Paris, where he was one of the 
most apt pupils in the insti¬ 
tution. A year later, he re¬ 
turned with his father to 
America, and then went back 
john quincy adams. p rance? whence he accom¬ 

panied his parent to Holland. He attended school 
for a short time in Amsterdam, and then en¬ 
tered the University of Leyden. He made the 
same brilliant progress there for two years in his 
studies, when he went to St. Petersburg as the 
private secretary of Mr. Dana, who had been his ' 
father’s secretary of legation and was promoted to 
the ministry. This gentleman remained for more 
than a year, when the Russian government re¬ 
fused to recognize him as American minister. 
Then young Adams went off alone on a six months’ 



52 


Lives of the Presidents . 


tour through Sweden, Denmark and Germany to 
France, where he found his father engaged in 
negotiating a treaty of peace between Great Britain 
and the United States. 

The son was now approaching manhood, and 
gave his father assistance in the preparation of his 
important papers. The elder Adams was appointed 
minister to England, in 1785, and his son returned 
to America, to complete his education at Harvard. 
He was graduated in 1788, took up the study of 
law, and was admitted to the bar in 1791. He 
wrote a number of able papers on politics which 
attracted the attention of Washington, who, in 
1794, appointed him minister to Holland, and two 
years later transferred him to Portugal. About 
this time, his father became President and asked 
Washington whether it would be proper to appoint 
his son to Berlin. “ By all means,” replied Wash¬ 
ington, “ I consider him without a superior in the 
diplomatic service.” 

Accordingly, in the autumn of 1797, the younger 
Adams went to Berlin as the American minister. 
He married Miss Louisa Johnson, and, in 1798, 
negotiated a commercial treaty with Sweden. He 
made a number of important translations, which 
were republished in several languages. Upon the 
accession of Jefferson to the Presidency, Adams 
returned to Boston and resumed the practice of 


John Quincy Adams. 


53 


law. In 1802, lie was elected to the State Senate, 
and in the following year was chosen United States 
Senator. In the last election, he defeated Timothy 
Pickering, who was soon elected as his colleague. 

The situation of Adams became almost unbear¬ 
able, because of the fierce quarrels which had split 
the Federal party in twain. The friends of Alex¬ 
ander Hamilton detested his father, because of his 
party independence, and took this means of strik¬ 
ing him through his son. Almost any motion 
which Senator Adams made was certain to be de¬ 
feated by a combination of Republicans and the 
friends of Hamilton, while perhaps ten minutes 
later, the same motion, if offered by some one else, 
would be passed. The members of the committees 
to which he was appointed were equally discourte¬ 
ous, meeting by themselves, and making their 
reports without notifying him of their intentions. 

If anything, the son became more independent 
in his political action than his father, and the 
insulting treatment to which he was subjected 
added to his independence and intensified his un¬ 
popularity. He had been elected as a Federalist, 
but the cowardice shown by that party, when 
England began kidnapping our seamen, and its 
almost treasonable course in refusing to pledge its 
support to the government in the troubles which 
impended, so disgusted Adams that he aided the 


54 


Lives of the Presidents . 


Republicans at home in passing their patriotic 
resolutions. He supported, too, the Embargo Act, 
which almost ruined the commerce of New Eng¬ 
land. As a result, he could not have been de¬ 
nounced more bitterly by his constituents had he 
been Benedict Arnold or the prince of all evil. He 
resigned a short time before the expiration of his 
term of service, which ended in March, 1809. The 
Republicans offered to send him to the House of 
Representatives, but he declined, and gave his 
leisure to his duties as professor of rhetoric and 
belles-lettres at Harvard, to which he had been 
elected in 1806. 

Madison now became President and nominated 
Adams as minister to Russia. The Senate after 
some hesitation confirmed the nomination, and he 
spent more than four pleasant years in that coun¬ 
try. He was there when Bonaparte made his dis¬ 
astrous invasion and his army was almost annihi¬ 
lated by its retreat in the depths of a terrible 
winter from burning Moscow. After the signing 
of a treaty, which ended the war between England 
and the United States, Mr. Adams visited France 
and saw the return of Napoleon from Elba and the. 
opening of the terrific tragedy which ended at 
Waterloo. 

Mr. Adams was a commissioner with Clay and 
Gallatin, and helped to complete the negotiation, 


John Quincy Adams . 


55 


for a new commercial treaty with Great Britain, 
July 13, 1815. Two months previous he had been 
appointed minister to England, and, in 181 7, Vv cxS 
summoned home to take the foremost place in the 
Cabinet of President Monroe. He filled the posi¬ 
tion with distinguished ability for eight years, 
during which he formulated the “Monroe Doc¬ 
trine,” of which we have already learned. The 
leading events of Monroe’s administrations, with 
which Adams was necessarily connected, have been 
told. 

Toward the close of Monroe’s second term, the 
country began discussing who his successor should 
be. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, 
Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, Secretary 
of the Treasury, John C. Calhoun, Secretary of 
War, and Henry Clay, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, were the most prominent can¬ 
didates. General Jackson was highly popular, 
because of his distinguished military services, 
while Adams had few friends. His manners were 
blunt, he was pugnacious, he never took pains to 
conciliate an enemy, and refused to do anything to 
help his candidature, and yet, such was the re¬ 
spect in which he was held, that in the electoral 
college he received 84 votes, while 99 were cast for 
Jackson, 41 for Crawford, and 37 for Clay. Al¬ 
though Jackson led, he had not enough support to 


56 


Lives of the Presidents . 


make him President, and the election was thrown 
into the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, 
one of the most persuasive of men, cast all his 
powerful influence in favor of Adams, who thus 
became the sixth President. 

It was a keen disappointment to Jackson and 
his friends, and when Clay accepted the place of 
Secretary of State under Adams, they charged that 
a bargain had been made between the two, and this 
was the payment Clay received for his support of 
the President. Neither Clay nor Adams was cap¬ 
able of such an act, and the fullest investigation 
has proved that there never was a shadow upon 
which to base the charge. 

The administration of John Quincy Adams was 
marked by great prosperity. The public debt was 
decreased and money seemed to be plentiful every¬ 
where. During those years, the locomotive of 
Stephenson was invented and brought into success¬ 
ful use in England, with its most remarkable 
results soon to appear in the United States. 
Treaties were made with several Indian tribes, by 
which they sold their land to the government and 
removed beyond the Mississippi, leaving vast tracts 
open to settlement. 

The era of good feeling, however, which had 
been so notable during most of Monroe’s adminis¬ 
trations, soon passed away, and was succeeded hy 


John Quincy Adams . 


57 


intensely bitter feeling. The Federal party having 
perished, was succeeded by the Whigs, who favored 
a high duty on imported goods, and a system of 
internal improvements at the expense of the na¬ 
tional government. The Republicans, who soon 
took the name of Democrats, opposed this policy. 
The tariff was heartily disliked in the South, 
because the people there were not engaged in 
manufactures, and, as a consequence, had to pay 
a higher price for articles brought from abroad. 
For the same reason, the North strongly favored 
the tariff. This union of a protective tariff and the 
policy of internal improvements became known as 
the “ American System,” of which Henry Clay 
was the champion, and upon which the Whig 
party was founded. 

President Adams took another stand, which, 
while creditable to his moral courage and high 
sense of duty, increased the number of his enemies 
within his own party. He would have nothing to 
do with the “spoils system,” which consists in 
rewarding friends and punishing enemies through 
the distribution of political favors. He could not 
be persuaded to remove an office-holder if faithful 
and competent, because of his politics, and refused 
to appoint any one to office for the reason that he 
had helped or belonged to his party. In short, he 
was one of the most independent Presidents that 


58 


Lives of the Presidents. 


this country has ever had. The result was that in 
the election of 1828, he received only 83 electoral 
votes to 178 cast for Jackson. 

But with his retirement from the Presidency, the 
public career of the younger Adams by no means 
ended. Just before the close of his term, William 
Morgan, a worthless character in Western New 
New York, announced his intention of exposing 
the secrets of the Masonic order of which he was a 
member. He disappeared mysteriously, and it 
was widely charged that a party of Free Masons 
had placed him in a boat and sent him over 
Niagara Falls. The charge caused a wave of oppo¬ 
sition to Freemasonry to sweep over the country, 
and upon it Mr. Adams was carried into the 
House of Representatives, in 1831, there to re¬ 
main until his death in 1848. 

He was an active and vigorous member, and 
soon came to be recognized as the champion of the 
abolitionists, who were gradually gaining power in 
the North. The right of petition, which had been 
denied in 1836, found in him so able an advocate, 
that it was restored in 1845. He may be looked 
upon as the forerunner of the Republican party, 
which sprang into life ten years later. His splen¬ 
did bravery in fighting the friends of slavery 
brought many threats and won more than one 
compliment from his enemies. 


John Quincy Adams. 


59 


On the 21st of February, 1848, while in the act 
of rising from his seat, he was seized with a severe 
stroke of paralysis. The members rushed to his 
assistance and he was carried into the Speaker’s 
room, where he died two days later. His last 
words were: “ This is the last of earth; I am 
content.” 


ANDREW JACKSON. 

SEVENTH PRESIDENT.—1829-1837. 

The father of Andrew Jackson was a Scotch- 
Irishman, who crossed the Atlantic in 1765, with his 
wife and two sons, and settled on the Catawba 
River, in what was the Waxhaw Settlement, in 
Mecklenburg county, North 
Carolina. The precise place 
where Andrew was born, 
March 15, 1767, has never 
been definitely settled, but 
the best authorities agree 
that it w£S in Union County, 
North Carolina, although 
Andrew jackson. Jackson himself believed 
that he was a South Carolinian by birth. 

The father died a few days after Andrew was 
born, and the mother was very poor, so that her 
son received a meagre book education. He was a 
small but sturdy boy when the Revolution broke 
out, and his State was harried by the ferocious 
Tories and ruthless British. An English officer 
once ordered him to clean his boots, but Andrew 
indignantly refused, for which the officer struck 
him so brutal a blow with his sword that he was 
knocked senseless. Nevertheless, the lad did not 



Andrew Jackson. 61 

clean the boots, and he would have died before 
doing so. 

Toward the close of the war, the three brothers 
entered the service of their country aud were taken 
prisoners at the disastrous battle of Camden. The 
two brothers died, as did his mother, while on the 
way to Charleston, to look after Andrew, who lay at 
death’s door with smallpox. Thus, at the end of 
the Revolution, he was entirely alone in the world, 
without a near living relative, and with anything 
but love in his heart for an Englishman. 

He lived as did the rough, roystering set around 
him, working awhile at the saddler’s trade, and, in 
1784, took up the study of law at Salisbury, N. C., 
pursuing it in a desultory way for four years. In 
October, 1788, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, 
where he was appointed public prosecutor. The sec¬ 
tion at that time formed the western District of North 
Carolina, and it was in a condition of anarchy, be¬ 
cause of the attempts to set up an independent State 
of Franklin or Frankland. The office required a 
man of indomitable courage, for he was arrayed 
on the side of law and order against the most des¬ 
perate members of a savage frontier community. 

Jackson never shrank from the duty imposed 
upon him. It is related that once in court the 
sheriff was ordered to arrest a well-known ruffian, 
but feared to do so. Jackson leaped over the 


62 


Lives of the Presidents . 


benches, gripped the desperado by the throat, 
hurled him to the floor and arrested him single- 
handed. He was always ready to fight at a mo¬ 
ment’s warning, and engaged in a number of duels, 
in every one of which he was the victor. 

Jackson was a member of the convention, which 
met at Knoxville, in January, 1796, and framed a 
constitution for Tennessee, which was admitted to 
the Union on the first of June following. It is said 
that it was he who proposed the name of the State 
from its principal river. He was elected the first 
representative of Tennessee to Congress, and soon 
after succeeded one of the Senators, who had been 
expelled. Jackson, however, had so little taste for 
political life that he resigned in April, 1798. 

In the same year, he was appointed Judge of the 
Supreme Court of Tennessee, and held the office 
until 1804, when he gave it up. In 1801 he had 
defeated John Sevier, the first governor of the 
State, as a candidate for the office of major-general 
of militia. This was highly pleasing to Jackson, 
who was fonder of military affairs than of politics 
or law. His life was comparatively uneventful 
down to the breaking out of the War of 1812. He 
was among the first to volunteer his services, 
including 2,500 volunteers in his offer. He 
marched to New Orleans in January, 1813, and 
displayed the utmost energy in throwing up de- 


Andrew Jackson . 


63 


fences against an expected attack by the enemy. 
Hardly was his work completed, when, to his 
chagrin, he was ordered to dismiss his troops, as 
the government had become convinced that the city 
was not in danger. Jackson sent them home at 
his own expense, the government afterward reim¬ 
bursing him. 

In August, 1813, Fort Minims, in Alabama, was 
captured by a war party of Creeks and mongrels, 
and five hundred, men, women and children were 
massacred. The whole country was shocked. The 
Tennessee legislature quickly voted men and 
money to help the people of that section and Jack- 
son, who was in bed from a wound received in a 
duel, placed himself at their head. The soldiers 
were so poorly supplied with food that they were 
in a starving condition and became mutinous. 
Jackson lived for days upon acorns, and when his 
men attempted to go home, he confronted them 
with a drawn pistol and held them to their duty. 
It was one man against several thousand, and the 
one man conquered. In a campaign of seven 
months, he destroyed nearly all the Creek warriors 
and sent the few survivors scurrying into Florida. 
His splendid services attracted the notice of the 
government, and he was made a major-general of 
the United States army on May 31st, 1814, and 
given command of the Department of the South. 


64 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Florida belonged to Spain, but gave treacherous 
help to England. On November 6, 1814, at the 
head of 3,000 men, Jackson stormed and captured 
Pensacola, immediately returning to his headquar¬ 
ters at Mobile, where he expected to be attacked 
by the enemy. 

The British, however, intended to capture New 
Orleans, and the people appealed to Jackson. He 
responded at once, and, marching rapidly, reached 
the city on the 2d of December. He found the 
place defenceless and with scarcely any arms, but 
he took hold with his accustomed vigor, declared 
martial law and ruled with an iron hand. Every 
male who was capable of handling a pick or spade 
was set to work, and, when worn out with labor, 
he rested them by drilling them in the ranks. 
Had he possessed but fifty defenders, he would 
have fought the whole British army. 

The grand assault was made by the British, 
January 8, 1815. The troops were composed of 
the veterans of Europe, seasoned in the tremendous 
wars against Napoleon, and led by the brother-in- 
law of the Duke.of Wellington, the conquerer of 
Bonaparte. The English suffered a frightful re¬ 
pulse, losing more than 2,000 killed and wounded, 
General Pakenham, their leader, being among the 
slain. The Americans, fighting from behind en¬ 
trenchments, had only seven killed and six wounded* 


Andrew Jackson. 


65 


The battle of New Orleans was the most brilliant 
victory of the War of 1812, and every recurring an¬ 
niversary is celebrated in all parts of the country. 

The Seminoles in Florida began massacring 
the settlers in 1818, and Jackson marched into the 
country and conquered it. The Territory was 
purchased from Spain in 1819, although the treaty 
was not ratified until February 22, 1821. Jackson 
was appointed the first governor. He declined the 
mission to Mexico in 1823, and shortly after was 
elected to the United States Senate. His military 
achievements had made him the most popular man 
in the country, and his friends began urging him 
for the Presidency. We have learned that, al¬ 
though he received the largest electoral vote in 
1824, a combination of his opponents placed John 
Quincy Adams in the executive chair, but, in 1828, 
Jackson was triumphantly elected. 

It need hardly be said that his two administrations 
were stormy ones. He rigidly enforced the policy 
that “to the victors belong the spoils.” Of his 
predecessors, Washington had removed nine per¬ 
sons from office, Adams ten, Jefferson thirty-nine, 
Madison five, Monroe nine and J. Q. Adams two. 
Nearly all of these were for cause. Within the 
first year of Jackson’s administration, he had 
turned out 491 postmasters and 239 other officers, 
and, since the new appointees also removed their 


66 


Lives of the Presidents . 


deputies and assistants, fully 2,000 changes in the 
civil service took' place. 

Jackson hated the United States Bank. He 
vetoed the bill renewing its charter, and, in order 
to cripple it, removed the United States deposits 
from that bank and distributed them among the 
various State banks. The charter of the bank 
expired in 1836, and was not renewed. 

Jackson’s aggressive course had so added to his 
popularity with the masses that in the Presidential 
election of 1832, out of a total electoral vote of 286, 
he received 219, against 49 for Henry Clay, 11 for 
John Floyd and 7 for William Wirt. The public 
debt was paid off during his second term. Not 
only that, but $28,000,000 surplus was divided 
among the States. It looked as if the country was 
never so prosperous, but the prosperity was super¬ 
ficial and the storm soon broke. 

The Sac and Fox Indians refused to abide by 
their treaty with the United States and would not 
leave their lands in Wisconsin Territory. A vic¬ 
ious war raged for a time in 1832, but the red men 
were conquered and their removal followed. 

The most important event of Jackson’s term 
came in 1832. It is easy to understand why the 
tariff was popular in the North and unpopular in 
the South. In the former, as we have learned, 
were the manufactories of the country. The duties 


Andrew Jackson . 


67 


on imported goods enabled tbe manufacturers of 
the country to reap a generous profit on what they 
made,—a thing which would have been impossible 
without the protective tariff. There were no man¬ 
ufactories in the South, which was an agricultural 
community, and, as a consequence, the people were 
compelled to pay a higher price, on account of the 
duties, for what they needed. 

The tariff kept creeping upward and the South 
grew more dissatisfied. The people were angered 
by the tariff of 1828, and Georgia protested against 
it. In the spring of 1832, Congress imposed addi¬ 
tional duties upon imported goods. Fiery South 
Carolina lost patience. In a convention, held on 
the 19th of November, at which her governor pre¬ 
sided, the tariff acts were declared unconstitutional, 
and therefore null and void, and the government 
was warned that the State would resist the collec¬ 
tion of the duties and secede from the Union. The 
legislature endorsed these resolutions and the 
South Carolinians began preparations for war. 

While Jackson was a strong friend of State sov¬ 
ereignty, and while he sympathized with the State 
in which he believed he was born, his love for the 
Union overmastered every other emotion. He de¬ 
clared that the laws should be enforced, and he would 
hang any man who dared to raise his hand against 
them. At the same time, he issued an eloquent 


68 


Lives of the Presidents. 


appeal to the South Carolinians to be true to their 
duty and to the country. The appeal produced no 
effect, and the State continued its preparations, 
erecting fortifications in Charleston Harbor, from 
which to fire upon the first government vessel that 
attempted to enter to collect the odious duties. 

It was fortunate that General Scott had charge 
of the strong naval and military force that was 
sent to Charleston. His tact was admirable. In¬ 
stead of indulging in threats and bluster, he culti¬ 
vated social relations with the people, often inviting 
them to the forts and treating them with winning 
courtesy. He became personally very popular 
with the citizens. 

By and by passion began to cool, a good many 
people in South Carolina supported the President’s 
proclamation; other States appealed to her, and 
at the decisive hour, Heury Clay brought forward 
a compromise measure in Congress, which was 
supported by Calhoun, who, having resigned the 
office of Vice-President, was Senator from South 
Carolina. It provided for a steady reduction of 
duties until June 30, 1842, when all should sink 
to a level of twenty per cent. South Carolina was 
satisfied and the nullification agitation came to an 
end. 

We have referred to the marvellous good fortune 
of Andrew Jackson, which seemed to attend him 


Andrew Jackson. 


69 


through life. It looked, indeed, as if the old super¬ 
stition about being born under a lucky star was 
true in his case. No matter into what contest he 
entered, he always won; everything . seemed to go 
his way. No more striking instance can be named 
than that which occurred January 30, 1835, when 
President Jackson attended at the Capitol the fun¬ 
eral of Warren R. Davis, of South Carolina. 
While passing through the rotunda, Richard Law¬ 
rence raised two pistols, when only a few feet dis¬ 
tant, leveled them directly at the breast of Jack- 
son, and pulled both triggers. 

The investigation afterward disclosed that both 
weapons had been carefully loaded and primed. 
They were of the best make, neither had ever been 
known to miss fire, and at the first attempt to dis¬ 
charge them, subsequent to this incident, each 
responded on the instant. And yet, when aimed 
at the heart of Jackson, both refused to be dis¬ 
charged ! 

Jackson heard the click of the flints, and in a 
flame of fury, he bounded toward the assassin, but 
was seized before he could reach him. “ Let me 
alone!” he shouted, struggling to wrench himself 
loose; u let me get at him ! let me kill him !” But 
though he strove fiercely and would have struck 
those around him for holding him back, he was not 
allowed to attack the man who was hustled off to jail. 


70 


Lives of the Presidents . 


investigation proved that Lawrence was insane. 
He had no grievance against Jackson and was irre¬ 
sponsible for his acts. He was placed in an asylum 
and lived many years afterward. The escape of 
Jackson was so wonderful that thousands believed 
it belonged to the realm of miracles and was a di¬ 
rect interposition of Providence. 

At the close of his second term, President Jack- 
son issued a farewell address to his countrymen, 
which was worthy of his patriotism. His last act, 
however, caused much dissatisfaction. The arti¬ 
ficial prosperity of the country had started an era 
of wild speculation, whose baleful harvest was close 
at hand. With the aim of checking speculation in 
public lands, the Treasury Department in July, 
1836, sent out a circular which ordered the col¬ 
lectors of public revenues to receive only gold and 
silver in payment. This produced so much con¬ 
fusion and trouble, that Congress, early in 1837, 
repealed the act. It was a much needed measure, 
and would have done a great deal to stave off the 
panic which speedily broke upon the country, but 
Jackson kept the bill in his possession until after 
the adjournment of Congress, and thus prevented 
it becoming law. 

On the 7th of March, 1837, Jackson left Wash¬ 
ington for his home in Tennessee. He was treated 
with honor and distinction all the way, and re- 


Andrew Jackson . 


71 


ceived with delight by his fellow-citizens, for to 
the majority he was still the idol whom no one 
else could displace. His loved wife had died, and 
he was broken in health and an old man. In the 
seclusion of his home at the Hermitage, as the 
quiet, restful days glided by, so in contrast with the 
tempestuous scenes of his life, his thoughts turned 
to the great change which was at hand. The once 
terrible fighter became a meek and devout Chris¬ 
tian, and, on June 3, 1845, amid the lamentations 
of his servants and his family friends, he quietly 
breathed his last. 


MARTIN VAN BUREN. 


EIGHTH PRESIDENT.—1837-1841. 

Martin Van Bnren was born at Kinderhook, 
Columbia County, N. Y., December 5, 1782, thus 
being the first President not born a subject of 
Great Britain. His father, Abraham Van Buren, 


was a farmer in moderate 
circumstances, and Martin 
was his eldest son. He ac¬ 
quired a good common-school 
education, and while a boy 
entered the law office of 
Francis Sylvester. He ap¬ 
plied himself with industry, 
and, at the age of twenty- 
one was one of the best 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 


equipped lawyers in the State. He was fond of 
debate, and early took an interest in politics. He 
completed his studies in the city of New York, 
where he was admitted to the bar in 1803, and, 
returning to Kinderhook, formed a partnership 
with his half-brother, James J. Van Alen. 

Van Buren was a supporter of Jefferson, and in 
the winter of 1806-’7, he removed to Hudson, the 
county seat. In February, 1807, he married Han¬ 
nah Hoes, who was a distant relative of his mother, 


Martin Van Buren. 


73 


the latter having been a widow when she became 
the wife of Abraham Van Buren. In the following 
year, Martin Van Buren was chosen a surrogate of 
Columbia County, which office he held until 1813, 
when he was displaced through a change in poli¬ 
tics. In 1812, he was elected to the State Senate. 
He was an adroit politician from the first, and was 
looked upon as one of the most influential leaders 
in his own party. He drew up the resolutions of 
the legislature which thanked General Jackson for 
his great victory at New Orleans. 

In the same year, while still a member of the 
Senate, he was appointed attorney-general of the 
State. He was re-elected to the State Senate in 
1816, and made a regent of the University of 
New York. A quarrel with the- political powers 
caused Van Buren’s removal from the office of at¬ 
torney general, in 1819, but it was afterward offered 
to and declined by him. The politics of New York 
were in a state of chaos, with all manner of quar¬ 
rels and no end of factions, but through his won¬ 
derful genius for organization, Van Buren restored 
order, and in February, 1821, was elected United 
States Senator, and shortly after chosen a member 
of the convention to revise the constitution of the 
State. In the United States Senate, he was Chair¬ 
man for years of the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and was an important factor in politics. He sup- 


74 


Lives of the Presidents . 


ported Crawford for the Presidency in 1824, and 
favored the protective tariff of that year. He was 
always an advocate of a strict construction of the 
Constitution. He was re-elected to the Senate, 
but resigned to accept the governorship of New 
York, to which he was chosen in 1828. His prin¬ 
ciples led him zealously to support Jackson in 
1828, and upon the election of the latter, he made 
Van Buren his Secretary of State. He served 
throughout the first term, and, in 1831, was ap¬ 
pointed minister to England, but the Senate re¬ 
fused to confirm the appointment. 

Van Buren soon had his revenge for this injustice. 
He was elected Vice President under Jackson, in 
1832, and thus presided over the Senate which had 
rejected him. He acted with that courtesy and 
fairness which had won for him the name of “ The 
Little Magician” in politics. Jackson was his 
firm friend, and greatly helped to bring about his 
choice as his successor. He was elected, in 1836, 
President of the United States by a majority of 57 
in the electoral college, over William Henry Har¬ 
rison, Daniel Webster and Hugh L. White. 

We have learned of the seeming wonderful pro¬ 
gress of the country under Jackson, but, as we 
have stated, it was only an artificial prosperity- 
Numerous “wild cat” banks had been formed in 
the different States, generally with slight capital 


Martin Van Buren. 


75 


and in many instances with no capital at all. They 
bought enormous quantities of cheaply printed 
bills, which were used in buying public lands, for 
which larger prices could well be afforded, than 
when they were paid for with gold and silver. 
These banks “failed” so rapidly when the notes 
were presented for redemption, that they were con¬ 
tinually toppling over like so many ten pins. 
Business was disorganized, and, just after Van 
Buren was inaugurated, the most alarming panic 
the country has ever known set in. In two months 
the failures in New York City amounted to more 
than $100,000,000. The government which a short 
time before had divided $28,000,000 among the 
States, found itself without money with which to 
pay its debts. The distress became so great that 
President Van Buren called an extra session of 
Congress, which passed a law allowing the Treas¬ 
ury to issue its own notes to the amount of 
$10,000,000, and this gave some relief. 

The Whigs now clamored for the establishment 
of the United States Bank, but the President and 
his friends would not consent, and proposed a new 
plan known as the Sub-Treasury System. This 
provided that the public revenues should not be 
deposited in any bank, but were to be kept by the 
collecting officers, who would pay over the money 
in their possession to the Treasury Department at 


76 


Lives of the Presidents . 


Washington when ordered to do so. These officers 
were required to give bonds. It was not until 
1840, that Congress could be persuaded to pass the 
law, and, though it was soon repealed by the 
Whigs, it was readopted and is still in force. 

President Jackson had sown the wind, and his 
successor reaped the whirlwind. Although the 
great panic lasted little more than a year, a 
smaller one followed just before the election of 
1840. The Whigs promised prosperity and good 
times, and most people are inclined to blame the 
administration for everything that goes awry 
while it is in power. 

The Presidential election of 1840 was a singular 
one. The country was swept by a wave of enthusi¬ 
asm for General Harrison, one of the heroes of the 
War of 1812. Van Buren was renominated, but 
there was little enthusiasm for him. In the elec¬ 
toral college, he received only 60 votes to 234 for 
Harrison. 

Van Buren probably would have been renomi¬ 
nated in 1844, had he not mortally offended his 
southern supporters by opposing the annexation 
of Texas. Four years later, he received the nomi¬ 
nation at the hands of the Free Soil party, so 
called because it opposed the admission of slavery 
into any of the Territories. He failed to secure 
any electoral votes. Withdrawing to his home at 


Martin Van Buren . 


77 


Kinderhook, he led the quiet life of a gentleman 
of culture, never relinquishing his interest in public 
affairs, and died July 24, 1862. 


WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 


NINTH PRESIDENT.—1841. 

William Henry Harrison was born at Berkeley, 
Charles City county, Virginia, February 9, 1773, 
and was the third and youngest son of Benjamin 
Harrison, a prominent Virginian, and a signer of 


the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence. He served twice as 
governor of Virginia, and 
was a member of the State 
legislature at the time of his 
death, in 1791. 



William Henry was sent 
to Hampden Sydney Col¬ 
lege, and began the study 
of medicine, but, before com- 


WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 


pleting his course, he was so wrought up by the 
accounts of Indian outrages on the western fron¬ 
tier, that he determined to enlist for the defense 
of the settlers. Robert Morris, the famous finan¬ 
cier of the Revolution, was his guardian and op¬ 
posed his intention, but Washington, who had been 
a warm friend of Harrison’s father, commended 
his course, and he was commissioned ensign in the 
First Infantry. Harrison hastened to Fort Wash¬ 
ington, Ohio, where he was made lieutenant. He 


William Henry Harrison. 79 

gave such great aid to General Anthony Wayne, 
in his crushing victory over the combined tribes 
in 1794, that he was especially commended by the 
commander in his report to the Secretary of War. 
As a result, he was promoted to a captaincy and 
given command of Fort Washington. While in 
charge of this post, he married (November 22, 
1795) Anna, the youngest daughter of John Cleves 
Sjunmes. She was a native of New Jersey, and 
her father was one of the Judges of the Northwest 
Territory. 

Peace having come, Captain Harrison resigned 
his commission in June, 1798, and was appointed 
secretary of the Territory by President Adams. 
He resigned soon after to take his seat as Terri¬ 
torial delegate to Congress, but in 1800 was made 
Governor of Indiana Territory, which included the 
present States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and 
Wisconsin, and gave up his seat in Congress to 
devote himself to its duties. 

His services were of the most valuable nature. 
Immovably honest in everything, with excellent 
executive ability and sound judgment, he did a 
great deal for the good of the vast and thinly set¬ 
tled area over which he was ruler. He proved one 
of the best friends the Indians ever had. He 
checked impositions upon them, restrained the sales 
of intoxicating liquors, and persuaded many to sub- 


80 


Lives of the Presidents. 


mit to inoculation to prevent the frightful viru¬ 
lence of smallpox, which carried away hundreds of 
the red men. At the risk of his life, he attended 
numerous councils, and by his persuasive words, 
and his well-known integrity, averted more than 
one dangerous outbreak. In 1809, he concluded a 
treaty with the Indians, by which they sold to our 
government 3,000,000 acres of land on the White 
and Wabash rivers. His administration of affairs 
was so satisfactory that he was re-appointed by 
Presidents Jefferson and Madison. 

Tecumseh, chief of the Shawanoes, was the 
greatest Indian that ever lived. He was a wonder¬ 
ful orator and showed such fine military genius, 
that he was made a brigadier general in the British 
army, where none of the officers was his superior. 
He took the position that whenever land was ceded 
to the United States by the Indians, the consent of 
all the tribes was necessary, instead of simply 
those who happened to occupy the lands at the 
time. Since this would have prevented the cession 
of any territory at all, it could never be accepted 
by our government. Tecumseh was a triplet, and 
one of his brothers was “ The Prophet/’ a famous 
medicine man among his people. He did much to 
stir up the Indians to enmity against the whites. 

Governor Harrison, well aware of the great in¬ 
fluence of Tecumseh, took every possible means to 


William Henry Harrison . 


81 


conciliate him. He again exposed himself to per¬ 
sonal danger by visiting the camp of the chieftain 
with no attendant except an interpreter, and held 
many earnest talks with the terrible Shawanoe. 
The latter would not yield his claim, and insisted 
that, as a condition to peace, the lands lately sold 
to the United States should be returned to the 
Indians. Harrison told him kindly but firmly that 
that could not be done. Then, since it was certain 
that the two would soon be arrayed against each 
other in battle, he asked Tecumseh to promise him 
that he would not permit his warriors to abuse 
such prisoners as might fall into his hands. 

Tecumseh gave his promise, and to his credit be 
it recorded that he kept it in spirit and letter. On 
one occasion, during his absence, some of his war¬ 
riors were mistreating a number of Americans 
captured in battle, while General Proctor, the 
British commander, stood looking upon the scene 
with apparent enjoyment. Tecumseh rode his horse 
forward at a full run, leaped to the ground and 
hurled the Indians right and left, declaring that he 
would kill the first one who laid a finger on the 
prisoners. Then, turning to the British leader, he 
demanded: 

“ Why did you permit this ?” 

“ Your warriors cannot be restrained,” was the 
reply. 


82 


Lives of the Presidents . 


“ You are not fit to command,” said Tecumseh, 
scornfully pointing his finger at him; “ go home 
and put on petticoats! ” 

Tecumseh would not have permitted harm to 
Harrison while in his camp, but the danger of the 
visitor was from the treachery of others. The 
government wished Harrison to seize and hold the 
Shawanoe chieftain as a hostage, but he would not 
consent to anything of that nature, and recom¬ 
mended the establishment of a military post near 
Tippecanoe, an Indian village on the upper Wabash. 
This was agreed to, and Harrison set out for the 
place at the head of about 800 men. When near 
the town, November 6, 1811, Indian messengers 
appeared and asked for a parley to be held the 
next day. Harrison consented, but, believing it 
was a trick of the savages, he took every possible 
care against surprise, his men sleeping on their 
arms. 

Before it was light on the following morning, 
the Indians made a tumultuous attack upon the 
camp, and at first threatened to sweep everything 
before them; but the soldiers fought with desper¬ 
ate bravery, and finally drove their assailants from 
the field. The battle was a fierce one, the Ameri¬ 
cans suffering a loss of 108 in killed and wounded. 

Tecumseh was absent among the tribes in the 
South when the conflict took place, for which his 


William Henry Harrison. 


83 


brother, “The Prophet,” was responsible. The chief 
had given orders that no attack should be made 
while he was away, and he was so enraged on his 
return, when he learned what had been done, that 
he seized his brother by his long hair and almost 
shook the life out of him. 

War was declared against England in June, 
1812, and Governor Harrison was commissioned a 
major general of the Kentucky militia, to be ap¬ 
pointed shortly after by the government to the 
chief command in the West, with permission to use 
his own discretion in all military movements that 
he chose to make. He urged the construction of a 
fleet on Lake Erie, and in March, 1813, was com¬ 
missioned a major-general in the regular army. 
His excellent judgment and military ability won 
repeated commendations from the government. 

On the 10th of September, 1814, ‘ Commodore 
Perry fought his great naval battle at the western 
end of Lake Erie. Proctor, the British commander, 
was eagerly awaiting the result, for he intended, if 
the English won a victory, to cross over from Can¬ 
ada and invade Ohio, while, if Perry was success¬ 
ful, Harrison meant to enter Canada. 

The American victory on the lake was one of 
the most brilliant of our history. The whole 
British fleet was captured, the first time such a dis¬ 
aster had ever befallen Great Britain. Commo- 


84 Lives oj the Fresidenis . 

dore Perry sent the famous despatch to Harrison: 
“ We have met the enemy and they are ours/’ and 
hardly had it been read by Harrison, when his 
army entered Canada. On the 5th of October, he 
overtook Proctor, who had taken a strong position 
on the river Thames, on ground selected by Te- 
cumseh, who warned the British general that if he 
did not stop running and fight, he would withdraw 
with all his warriors. 

In the battle which followed, Tecumseh was 
killed and the British army defeated, but Proctor 
escaped by running into the woods. The victory 
was an important one, and gave Harrison a popu¬ 
larity that was hardly second to that of General 
Jackson, the hero of New Orleans. 

He was sent to Congress in 1816, and served for 
three years, when he was elected to the Senate of 
Ohio. In 1824, he became a United States Sena¬ 
tor, resigning four years later, upon receiving the 
appointment of minister to the United States of 
Colombia. He was recalled upon the election of 
President Jackson and spent several years as a 
farmer at North Bend, Ohio. We have learned 
that he was the Whig candidate against Van Buren 
in 1836, but failed of success. Four years later, he 
became a candidate again, and then ensued one of 
the most extraordinary campaigns in the history 
of our country. A part of General Harrison’s 


William Henry Harrison. 


85 


house at North Bend consisted of logs built by one 
of the first settlers of Ohio. A leading paper op¬ 
posed to his candidacy said that if Harrison could 
have a pipe, a mug of cider and be given a small 
pension, he would sit in front of his log cabin and 
be happy for the rest of his days. 

This slur was taken up by his friends, and formed 
their war cry. Miniature log cabins were put up by 
the thousand, and hard cider became the favorite 
beverage of the Whigs. No one can estimate the 
hogsheads of the intoxicant that were drank during 
that campaign, and the appalling injury done to 
the cause of temperance. The processions were 
miles in length and the meetings covered acres. 
“Tippecanoe and Tyler too! ” was shouted by 
tens of thousands, until, as was declared, Gen¬ 
eral Harrison was literally sung into the White 
House with an electoral vote of 234 to 60 for Van 
Buren. 

He was inaugurated March 4, 1841, and sent to 
the Senate a list of admirable names for his Cabi¬ 
net. They were immediately confirmed, and the 
respect for the new President and the confidence in 
his patriotic integrity raised the most pleasing ex¬ 
pectations of his administration. But, although he 
had been one of the most rugged of men, and had 
withstood all manner of hardships and exposure, 
he was now old and feeble, and the torments of 


86 


Lives of the Presidents . 


office-seekers drove him frantic. In the latter part 
of March, he was taken ill, and, growing rapidly 
worse, was seized with bilious pneumonia, which 
caused his death, April 4, just one month after his 
inauguration. 

His decease was so unexpected that his wife was 
unable to reach his bedside from their home. The 
country was startled and shocked, for it was the 
first time that a President had died in office, and 
his abilities, while not of the highest character, had 
commanded the respect of all. He was a good 
man and a patriot in the truest sense of the word. 


JOHN TYLER. 

TENTH PRESIDENT.—1841-1845. 

John Tyler, like most of the preceding Presi¬ 
dents, was a native of Virginia. He was born at 
Green way, Charles City county, March 29, 1790, 
being the second son of Judge John Tyler. 

He attended a school near 
his home in his boyhood. 
The teacher was so brutal 
that one day young Tyler 
headed a rebellion, over¬ 
came him, tied his hands 
and feet and locked him in 
the building. He was not 
rescued until late at night 

JUfcLJN 

when a man in passing heard his shouts and 
went to his relief. 

Having been prepared for college, young Tyler 
entered William and Mary from which he was 
graduated in 1807. He took up the study of law 
and was admitted to the bar two years later, and 
elected to the legislature at the age of twenty-one. 
We were then on the verge of the war of 1812, of 
which he was an ardent supporter. He was the 
author of a resolution of censure upon the United 
States Senators for voting in favor of re-chartering 












88 


Lives of the Presidents. 


the United States Bank, after their constituents 
had instructed them to oppose it. 

On his twenty-third birthday, he was married to 
Letitia Christian. As captain of a militia company 
he spent several weeks among the defenders of 
Richmond, which was threatened by the British. 
He was annually elected to the State legislature 
until 1816, when he was chosen a member of the 
National House of Representatives. In the fol¬ 
lowing congressional election, only a single vote 
was cast against him. His career as Congressman 
showed him to be a strict constructionist. He op¬ 
posed the Missouri Compromise, holding that the 
citizens should be left free to decide the question of 
slavery for themselves. He was equally resolute 
in his opposition to a protective tariff. 

Ill health compelled him to decline a re-election 
in 1821, but two years afterwards, he was again 
sent to the Virginia legislature. He became rector 
and chancellor of William and Mary College, which 
attained a high degree of prosperity under his 
management. 

Mr. Tyler received many proofs of the confidence 
of his fellow citizens. In December, 1825, the leg¬ 
islature made him governor of Virginia, and the 
next year he was re-elected without an opposing 
vote, being chosen soon after as United States Sen¬ 
ator. He took the same determined stand against 


John Tyler. 


89 


a protective tariff. Although some of his votes 
were cast in opposition to the measures of the Jack- 
son party, he supported “ Old Hickory,” in the 
presidential election of 1832. He opposed nullifi¬ 
cation in South Carolina, condemned Jackson’s 
coercive measures, and strongly favored Clay’s 
compromise tariff bill, by which the anger of South 
Carolina was soothed. 

It will be noted that the nullification quarrel had 
divided the Democratic party. Calhoun was the 
leader of the nullifiers, while Jackson, Benton, 
Van Buren and Tyler were supporters of the 
Union, u first, last and all the time.” The division 
continued when the strife took place over the re¬ 
chartering of the United States Bank. Mr. Tyler 
was convinced that the establishment of the bank 
was unconstitutional, since the consent of whatever 
State in which it was located should first be ob¬ 
tained before such establishment. This fact re¬ 
garding his views must be remembered, when we 
come to speak of his course after his succession to 
the presidency. 

Thus the sentiments of Mr. Tyler and of Presi¬ 
dent Jackson were the same as to the unconstitu¬ 
tionally of the bank, but no one could have con¬ 
demned more strongly than Tyler, the methods of 
the President in attacking the bank. In the pres¬ 
idential election of 1836, the “ State-rights ” Whigs 


90 


Lives of the Presidents. 


nominated Hugh L. White of Tennessee for Pres¬ 
ident and John Tyler for Vice President, but, as we 
have learned, Martin Van Buren was the success¬ 
ful contestant. 

Having been instructed by his home legislature 
to vote in favor of the Congressional resolution 
striking out the vote of censure upon the course of 
General Jackson for his arbitrary course in the 
South, Senator Tyler refused to obey, voted against 
the resolution and then resigned and went home. 

In January, 1828, he was chosen president of the 
Virginia Colonization Society and shortly after 
sent to the legislature. His friends re-nominated 
him for United States Senator, but in the contest 
which followed a deadlock took place and the ques¬ 
tion was indefinitely postponed. 

Politics were in a jumbled state, when in 1840, 
William Henry Harrison became the Whig candi¬ 
date, while Tyler was placed on the same ticket 
for the vice presidency. A great many democrats 
were dissatisfied with the administration, and it was 
believed that the nomination of Tyler would cause 
them to support the ticket. The overwhelming 
success which followed proved that the move was 
a shrewd one. 

President Harrison having died one month after 
his inauguration, Tyler, as provided by the Con¬ 
stitution, was sworn in as his successor. His po- 


John Tyler . 


91 


sition was a peculiar one. The friends of the late 
Whig candidate maintained that since Tyler had 
been elected on the same platform, he was pledged 
to carry out the policy of the party and of the late 
President. In other words, he was simply his leg¬ 
atee. But the new President took the ground that 
since he was the lawful President, he was so in 
fact, with as much right to follow his own views 
on questions of public policy, as if he had been at 
the head of the ticket. There could be no doubt of 
the correctness of this view, but it clearly foreshad¬ 
owed a break with the Whig party. 

The bill for re-chartering the United States Bank 
passed Congress and went before the President for 
his signature. In accordance with the views he 
had expressed long before, he vetoed it. The bill 
was changed so as to permit the establishment of 
such a bank in the District of Columbia (a measure 
which the President favored), with branches in the 
different States, but it failed to make proper pro¬ 
vision for first obtaining the consent of those 
States. Consequently the President again vetoed it. 

His course raised a storm of indignation through¬ 
out the country. He was denounced as a traitor, 
called upon to resign and threats of assassination 
were made against him. With many persons the 
word “Tylerize” had as vicious a meaning as the 
treason of Arnold. All his Cabinet except Daniel 


92 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Webster, bis Secretary of State, resigned, but 
something in the nature of a reaction set in and 
more people than would be supposed sided with the 
President’s views. 

Congress, however, could not forgive his inde¬ 
pendent course, and when it assembled again, the 
quarrel was renewed, but the tariff question took 
the place of the bank issue. The revenue from 
importations had fallen so low that it would not 
pay the expenses of the government. The Whigs 
passed a bill for continuing the protective policy, 
and for dividing the surplus among the States.. 
But the nullification troubles had been soothed by 
the pledge that the protective policy should end in 
1842. President Tyler, as we remember, had 
strongly supported that compromise and he now 
vetoed the proposal to violate it. The Whigs 
were so incensed that impeachment was spoken of 
because of what was claimed his unwarrantable 
assumption of power. But he was the victor. The 
Whigs passed the bill shorn of the clause which 
provided for the division of the surplus among the 
States, and the President signed it. 

The health of the President’s wife had been 
delicate for several years and she died in Wash¬ 
ington, September 9, 1842. She was noted for 
her beauty and social accomplishments, and but 
for the failure of her health would have presided 


93 


John Tyler. 

with great grace as the mistress of the White 
House. 

Among the notable measures of President Ty¬ 
ler’s administration was the making of a treaty in 
1842 with Great Britain, by which each country 
agreed to arrest and send back criminals, who 
should flee to it from the other country. Similar 
treaties have been made since then with most civ ¬ 
ilized nations, so that it is hard for an evil-doer to 
find any safe hiding place from justice. 

Oregon at that day included the present States 
of Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. It was persist¬ 
ently claimed by both the United States and Great 
Britain, and the quarrel caused considerable war 
talk. The dispute was not settled until 1846, 
while the northern boundary between the United 
States and Canada had been adjusted in 1842. 

The immense territory of Texas belonged to 
Mexico. It was thinly settled by people from the 
United States, many of whom were desperate men, 
and criminals fleeing from justice. They revolted 
against Mexico in 1835, and severe fighting fol¬ 
lowed. In 1836, the Mexican army was destroyed 
at San Jacinto and Mexico gave up the attempt to 
conquer the province. Texas became independent 
and then applied to be admitted to the Union. 
The South was ardently in favor of its admission, 
because it ^ould add an immense slave region to 


94 


Lives of the Presidents . 


the country, and, for the same reason, the North 
opposed its becoming a State. Finally a treaty 
was made in April, 1844, providing for its annexa¬ 
tion, but the treaty was rejected by the Senate. 

The question entered into the presidential elec¬ 
tion, the majority of the voters declaring in favor 
of annexation. A joint resolution to that effect 
passed both houses, and a messenger was hurried 
to Texas, on the last day of President Tyler’s term 
of office, March 3, 1845. 

Mr. Tyler had been nominated for the presi¬ 
dency by a wing of the Democratic jparty at Bal¬ 
timore, but he declined and James K. Polk be¬ 
came the regular nominee. Mr. Tyler withdrew 
to his estate near Green way, on the James Riv¬ 
er. He presided at the peace convention, held 
in Washington in February, 1860, and which 
consisted of representatives from thirteen north¬ 
ern and seven border States, who hoped to de¬ 
vise means by which the gathering clouds of 
civil war could be dissolved. Nothing came 
from the meeting, and returning to his home, 
Mr. Tyler advised Virginia to secede from the 
Union. She did so, and when the capital of 
the Confederacy was removed to Richmond, he 
was elected a member of the provisional Con¬ 
gress of the Confederate States. In the autumn, 
he was chosen to the permanent Congress, but 



James KPolk . 


97 


exponent of the views of Jefferson, was in continual 
demand. In 1823, he was sent to the legislature, 
where he so added to his reputation that, in 1825, 
he was elected to Congress by a large majority, 
repeated at every election, until 1839, when he 
declined, in order to become a candidate for gov¬ 
ernor. While in Congress, he was a firm sup¬ 
porter of every measure of President Jackson, and 
among the foremost defenders of the administra¬ 
tion. The two had become warm friends at home, 
and Jackson always held him in high regard. He 
was elected Speaker of the House of Representa¬ 
tives, in 1835, and held the office for the rest of his 
time in Congress. 

There occurred so serious a split among the 
Democrats in Tennessee that there were serious 
doubts of Mr. Polk’s success. No other man could 
have won, but he was elected by an unexpected 
majority. He was a candidate again in 1841, but 
the Whig whirlwind swept everything from its 
path. He reduced the majority in his State, but 
failed of re-election, as he did when he ran a third 
time. 

As we have learned, the question of the annexa¬ 
tion of Texas was the leading issue in the Presi¬ 
dential election of 1844. There was much timidity 
on the part of most of the candidates before the 
people, but Polk declared himself in unmistakable 


98 


Lives of the Presidents . 


words in favor of the immediate annexation of 
Texas. This so pleased the majority of the Demo¬ 
cratic party that he received the nomination at the 
Baltimore convention, held in the latter part of 
May, 1844. 

A noteworthy incident was connected with his 
nomination. As soon as it was announced, hun¬ 
dreds of persons in attendance rushed off to the 
railway station, where a train was waiting, to carry 
the news to Washington, forty miles distant. 
When they scrambled out of the cars, they found, 
to their amazement, that the tidings had been there 
for more than an hour. It had been sent by mag¬ 
netic telegraph, over the line just completed, and 
was the first public message in the world thus 
sent. 

The vote was so close in the election which fol¬ 
lowed that for several days, the Whigs believed 
Henry Clay, their candidate, had been successful. 
The result, however, was the other way, and in the 
electoral college, Polk received 175 votes to 105 for 
Clay. At the same time, the Democrats obtained 
entire control of the government. In 1846, they 
re-established the sub-treasury system (repealed by 
the Whigs in 1841), and wiped out the protective 
tariff, which was not re-established until 1861. 

As was inevitable,war broke out with Mexico. She 
claimed Texas as part of her territory, but seemed 


James K. Polk. 


99 


willing to negotiate for its cession to the United 
States. It was found, however, that no agreement 
could be reached as to the western boundary. 
Mexico insisted that it was the Neuces River, and 
Texas that it was the Rio Grande. General Taylor 
was ordered to take possession of the disputed ter¬ 
ritory. Accordingly, he crossed the Neuces at 
Corpus Christi and advanced toward the Rio 
Grande. 

Taylor discovered that Mexican troops had passed 
the Rio Grande and were also entering upon the 
disputed ground. He sent out a scouting party, 
which was attacked and routed with the loss of 
several lives, by a much superior force of Mexi¬ 
cans. When the news of the affair reached Wash¬ 
ington, Congress declared that a state of war 
existed by the act of the republic of Mexico, and 
the President was authorized to accept 50,000 vol¬ 
unteers. The war was so popular, especially in 
the South, that more than 200,000 offered their 
services. New England believed that the whole 
thing was wrong and few of her people enlisted. 

General Taylor had not waited for the formal 
declaration of war, which was made May 13, 1846; 
for, having been attacked upon land that he 
was ordered to occupy, he resented the action of 
the Mexicans. He gained a series of brilliant vic¬ 
tories against much superior forces at Palo Alto 


100 


Lives of the Presidents. 


and Resaca de la Palma, and drove them across 
the Rio Grande into Mexico. He was made a 
major general, stormed Monterey in September 
and routed Santa Anna and a much more numer¬ 
ous army at Buena Vista, in February, 1847. 

General Winfield Scott, who had been appointed 
to the chief command of the American army in 1-841, 
now took charge in Mexico. He besieged and cap¬ 
tured Vera Cruz, stormed Cerro Gordo and ad¬ 
vanced to Puebla. Then, having given his army 
a needed rest, he marched toward the city of 
Mexico, the capital of the country. He de¬ 
feated the Mexicans at Contreras, Churubusco, 
Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, and entered the 
capital, September 14, 1847. This ended the war 
and a treaty of peace was signed in February, 
1848. By the terms of the treaty, we secured for 
the sum of $15,000,000 and the assumption of 
$3,000,000 of debts which Mexico owed to Ameri¬ 
can citizens, an area of territory amounting to al¬ 
most a million square miles. 

Another notable incident of Polk’s administra¬ 
tion was the discovery of gold in California. While 
some workmen were digging out the raceway of a 
saw mill on a branch of the Sacramento River, in 
February, 1848, they came upon some yellow part¬ 
icles, which, upon being tested, proved to be pure 
gold. It was learned further that the country had 


James K '. Polk . 


101 


deposits of the precious metal worth millions upon 
millions of dollars. The excitement which fol¬ 
lowed passes description. Men hurried thither not 
only from every part of the country, but from all 
portions of the civilized globe. They crowded the 
ships which made the tempestuous voyage around 
Cape Horn; they sailed down to the Isthmus of Pan¬ 
ama and plodded across to the other side, there to 
take ship again for the land of gold, while proces¬ 
sions of emigrant wagons stretched from Missouri 
all the way across the prairies and mountains to 
California. Within two years the country gained 
100,000 inhabitants, and the score of log cabins at 
San Francisco became a city of 20,000 people. 

President Polk had given the country a good 
administration and helped to add an enormous area 
to our territory. His numerous friends insisted 
upon his renomination, but his health, never 
rugged, had been injured by his close attention to 
his duties, and by the perplexing cares that are 
inseparable from the high office. In May, 1848, 
he published a letter, in which, after thanking his 
supporters, he announced his decision to retire 
from public life. He returned to his home in Ten¬ 
nessee, where he died on the 15th of June, 1849. His 
widow, Sarah Childress, survived until August, 
1891, when she passed away at the age of eighty- 
eight. She was a very religious woman and 


102 


Lives of the Presidents . 


abolished dancing and the custom of giving 
refreshments at the weekly receptions, but in 
spite of this she was popular as the mistress of 
the White House. President and Mrs. Polk had 
no children. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

TWELFTH PRESIDENT.—1849-1850. 

Zachary Taylor was born in Orange county, Va.. 
September 24, 1784, and was the son of Colonel 
Richard Taylor, a brave officer of the Revolution. 
When Zachary, who was the third son, was an 
infant, his father moved 
to Kentucky, and settled 
near the present city of 
Louisville, making his home 
there until his death. 

Kentucky at that early 
day was the scene of many 
fierce conflicts with the In¬ 
dians, who slew hundreds 
of settlers on both sides of 
the Ohio. These fights and deaths were so numer¬ 
ous that Kentucky gained the name of the “Dark 
and Bloody Ground.” 

In 1808, by which time it was certain trouble 
would soon occur with England, Congress author¬ 
ized the raising of five regiments of infantry, one 
of riflemen, one of light artillery and one of light 
dragoons. Zachary Taylor applied for a commis¬ 
sion and was appointed a first lieutenant in the 









104 Lives of the Presidents . 

Seventh Infantry, being promoted to a captaincy 
in 1810. 

Captain Taylor was ordered to Fort Harrison, 
near Vincennes, to protect with his small company, 
the place from assault. He performed this duty 
with such excellent j ndgment and success, that he 
was brevetted major by the President, being the 
first officer in the United States army to receive 
that honor. His subsequent course established his 
reputation as one of the best of military leaders. 

In the readjustment of the army on a peace 
basis, Major Taylor was reduced to a captaincy. 
Feeling the injustice, he resigned and went back 
to his farm; but was soon restored as major to the 
army. He became lieutenant-colonel of the First 
Infantry and commanded for a time Fort Snelling, 
advancing to a colonelcy in 1832. 

The Black Hawk war broke out that year and 
Colonel Taylor moved with the army up the Rock 
River valley in pursuit of Black Hawk. The 
campaign was prosecuted with vigor, interrupted 
for a time by a virulent visitation of cholera among 
the soldiers, and in the end, as we have learned, 
the Indians were compelled to give up their lands 
and remove beyond the Mississippi. 

Florida, as has been stated, came into the pos¬ 
session of the United States in 1821. It was occu¬ 
pied by the warlike Seminoles, and, with a view of 


Zachary Taylor. 


105 


securing their peaceable removal, a council was 
called, at which the Indians agreed to sell the bet¬ 
ter part of their lands and withdraw to the pine 
barrens in the centre of the peninsula, which ter¬ 
minates towards the south in almost inaccessible 
marshes. Our government on its part bound itself 
to pay the Seminoles certain annuities and to pro¬ 
tect them from all disturbances. 

This treaty pleased neither the Indians nor the 
white people. The leading chiefs had not attended 
the council, and were angered at what their asso¬ 
ciates had done. On the other hand, hundreds of 
runaway slaves found refuge in the swamps of 
Florida, where even bloodhounds could not trace 
them. The Seminoles made them welcome, the 
two races intermarried, and the mongrels became a 
most troublesome factor in the hostilities which 
soon began. 

Thus Florida proved a thorn in the side of the 
adjoining slave States, and it was determined to 
get rid of its inhabitants. They were treated with 
the grossest injustice. Their cattle were stolen, 
and in many instances, when the owners pursued 
the thieves and recovered their property, they them¬ 
selves were arrested and punished for stealing. 
Inevitably the Seminoles revolted and began mur¬ 
dering the settlers within reach. The white people 
petitioned the government for the removal of the 


106 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Indians and the government determined that it 
should be done. 

The treaty of Payne’s Landing, as it was called, 
was signed in May, 1832, and by it the Seminoles 
pledged themselves to remove from Florida within 
the following three years. As before, this treaty 
was not agreed to by the leaders of the tribe, who 
were so incensed at what the other chiefs had 
done that they killed two of them. In these 
troubles, the famous chief Osceola came forward 
and acted a prominent part. When he saw the 
paper on which the treaty was written lying on a 
table, he expressed his opinion of it by driving his 
hunting knife through the paper and top of the 
table. 

Since the Seminoles would not leave and the 
government was determined that they should, the 
Seminole war began and lasted for nearly twenty 
years. It seemed for a long time as if the savages 
would never be conquered. One of the most aston¬ 
ishing feats performed by them was that of taking 
all their women and children into some refuge in 
the dismal swamps, and so obliterating their trail, 
that the most skillful of the white scouts were un¬ 
able to find the slightest trace of them. 

In the latter part of December, 1835, Major Dade 
and his command of one hundred and eight officers 
and men were ambushed and all except three filled. 


Zachary Taylor . 


107 


Osceola took part in this massacre, and on the same 
day did something almost as startling. General 
Thompson, the Indian agent, had had a violent 
quarrel with him some time before and put him in 
irons. Osceola secured his freedom by professing 
to be in favor of the removal of his people, but it 
was only pretence on his part. General Thomp¬ 
son was dining with some friends at his house, 
within less than three hundred yards of Fort King, 
the windows being raised because of the mildness 
of the weather, when Osceola and a small party 
fired through the windows, afterward rushing into 
the house and killing Thompson and four of his 
friends. 

In the long continued attempts to end the Semi¬ 
nole war, our government sent general after gen¬ 
eral into that section. Osceola was made prisoner 
while in the American camp under a flag of truce. 
He was sent to Charleston as a prisoner and died 
of a broken heart, in Fort Moultrie, in 1838. Blood¬ 
hounds were imported from Cuba, but when the 
officers tried to make use of them, they refused to 
take the trail of an Indian, though ready to follow 
that of a negro. 

Colonel Zachary Taylor became an actor in the 
Seminole war in 1837, as the successor of General 
Jesup, the officer who made Osceola a prisoner 
under a flag of truce. Late in December, Taylor 


108 Lives of the Presidents . 

at the head of six hundred men arrived at a point 
on Okeechobee Lake, where he learned that the 
main camp of the Seminoles was about twenty-five 
miles distant. Advancing to the point, he attacked 
them on Christmas morning. 

The Indians were so strongly posted that for a 
time it was impossible to dislodge them. They 
fought with determined bravery, and more than 
once seemed to be on the point of driving the sol¬ 
diers from the field. In the end, however, they 
were routed with severe loss. General Taylor had 
twenty-eight men killed and more than a hundred 
wounded. This was the severest conflict that had 
yet taken place, but it did not discourage the In¬ 
dians, who kept up their resistance with the same 
bravery as before. 

General Taylor’s plans were disarranged by the 
President and in April, 1838, he gave way to Gen¬ 
eral McComb. The war dragged on until 1842, 
when General Wool succeeded in bringing it to a 
close. The Seminoles were taken beyond the Mis¬ 
sissippi and Florida, at last, was relieved of their 
pestilent presence. 

No one had done better service, up to the close 
of the war, than General Taylor, his victory at 
Lake Okeechobee winning him the brevet of brig¬ 
adier-general. He now made his home at Baton 
Rouge, Louisiana. 


Zachary Taylor. 


109 


We have learned that when Texas was annexed 
to the United States, in 1845, the Mexican War 
followed. General Taylor was the first in the 
field and won the brilliant victories already men' 
tioned. These made him extremely popular 
throughout the country and led to his nomination 
by the Whigs for the presidency. 

Taylor himself had no political ambition. In¬ 
deed, so slight was his interest in politics that dur¬ 
ing his forty years of military service he had never 
cast a vote. It has been said that when the steam¬ 
boat stopped at the landing near his house, he 
happened to be standing on the wharf and a news¬ 
paper was thrown to him with the announcement 
of his nomination, which was shouted out by the 
excited gentleman who flung the journal to him. 
“Old Rough and Ready”, as he was called, shoved 
the paper in his pocket and never looked at it until 
he had returned to his house. 

Many of the Whig leaders strongly opposed his 
nomination. Daniel Webster referred to him as 
“an ignorant frontier colonel.” The fact that he 
was a slave holder gave offence to many northern 
Whigs, and led to a secession from the party and 
the formation of the Free Soil parties, of which, as 
we have learned, Martin Van Buren was the can¬ 
didate. It cannot be denied that General Taylor 
could bear no comparison with Webster, Clay and 


no 


Lives of the Presidents . 


many other men identified with the Whigs; but 
the American people dearly love a military hero. 
He received 163 electoral votes to 127 for General 
Cass. 

General Taylor, conscious of his lack of experi¬ 
ence in political affairs, called around him a Cabi¬ 
net composed of some of the ablest men in the 
country. No one questioned his honor and patri¬ 
otism, but he assumed the Presidential office, dur¬ 
ing dark and troublous times. The hideous spectre 
of slavery loomed up again. California asked to 
be admitted to the Union, and the quarrel was 
whether it should be a free or a slave State. A 
part of it lies north and the rest south of the divid¬ 
ing line of slavery. Growing tired of waiting, the 
Territory formed a government of its own and 
adopted a constitution forbidding slavery. 

The quarrel became more embittered in Congress 
and threats of disunion were uttered by many of 
the southern members. War, indeed, had almost 
come, when Henry Clay, who had calmed the 
storm in 1820, and again in 1832, now came for¬ 
ward with another compromise, which ended or 
rather postponed the awful conflict. His measure 
included so many things that it was called the 
Omnibus Bill. 

It provided that California should be admitted 
without slavery; that Texas should be paid $10,- 


Zachary Taylor . 


Ill 


000,000 for giving up her claims to New Mexico; 
that the rest of the cession from Mexico, outside of 
California, should be divided into the Territories 
of Utah (including Nevada) and New Mexico (in¬ 
cluding Arizona), with slavery neither forbidden 
nor permitted in them; slavery was to be allowed 
in the District of Columbia, but the buying and 
selling of slaves was forbidden, and finally a new 
fugitive slave law was passed. The compromise 
was adopted and California was admitted in 1850. 

It was the last provision which enraged the 
North. It declared that runaway slaves should 
be arrested in the free States by the United States 
officers, and the testimony of such fugitives should 
not be accepted. The law was openly defied in 
many quarters and slaves were helped on their 
way to Canada, where, under the British flag, they 
were safe from capture. 

The quarrel was at its height, when Daniel 
Webster entered the Senate, on the 9th of July, 
1850, and by a gesture checked the member who 
was speaking. Amid a deathlike silence he said 
in a broken voice: “I have a sorrowful message 
to deliver to the Senate. The nation is threatened 
by a great misfortune. President Taylor is dying 
and may not survive the day.” 

At the Fourth of July ceremonies, the President 
suffered distressingly from the heat, which he 


112 


Lives of the Presidents . 


declared was worse than any he had experienced in 
Mexico or Florida. He drank copiously of cold 
water and iced milk, in the face of warning by his 
servant, and soon fell ill. He grew rapidly worse 
and expired on the 9th of July,—the same day in 
which Webster made his mournful announcement 
in the Senate. 

General Taylor was married to Margaret Smith, 
daughter of a Maryland planter. She died in 
Louisiana in 1852. He left three daughters and a 
son, the last of whom, Richard, was a prominent 
leader on the Confederate side in the War for the 
Union. One of the daughters, Sarah Knox, be¬ 
came the wife of Jefferson Davis. 


MILLARD FILLMORE. 

THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1850-1853. 

Millard Fillmore was born in Cayuga county, 
New York, February 7, 1800, and was the son of 
Nathaniel Fillmore, who had settled in the western 
part of the State, when it was an unbroken wilder¬ 
ness. Through a defective 
title, the father lost the tract 
which he had taken up and 
removed to a point some 
miles distant, where he be¬ 
gan life anew. 

The career of Millard Fill¬ 
more is only one of the many 
proofs that have been given 
that the highest station in 
this favored land is within reach of the humblest 
citizen. He labored most of each year with his 
father on the farm, attending the poor country 
school for a brief while during the winters. The 
parent was unable to send his sons to college and 
desired each to learn a trade. When fourteen 
years old, Millard was apprenticed to a carder of 
wool and dresser of cloth. The treatment received 
by him was so cruel that he rebelled and tramped 
a hundred miles back to his father’s home. 



114 


Lives of the Presidents . 


The youth, however, had pluck and soon took 
up the business of carding and cloth-dressing,which 
was carried on for six months each year. He was 
fond of books and studied everything which he 
could procure, though the volumes were few in 
number and of a character that few boys to-day 
would find entertaining. Gradually there formed 
in the mind of young Fillmore the determination 
to become a lawyer. He offered to his employer 
to surrender his year’s wages and pay him for the 
remainder of his apprenticeship, if he would release 
him, and the employer accepted the offer. 

Still the youth was without funds and his father 
was unable to assist him. But while he studied, 
he taught school at intervals, and so won upon the 
good opinion of a number of leading lawyers that 
they secured his admission, in 1823, as an attorney 
by the court of common pleas of Erie county. His 
natural courtesy and his genial disposition made 
him many friends, and gave promise of the success 
he attained in after life. He secured admission in 
1827, as attorney, and in 1829 as counsellor of the 
supreme court of the State. 

The self-denial of his youth, his natural ability 
and his devotion to Tiis profession brought success 
to him, as it will to all. His reputation as an 
able and sound lawyer spread beyond the confines 
of his country, and the firm with which he was asso- 


Millard Fillmore. 


115 


ciated became engaged in many of the most import¬ 
ant cases of western New York. He was inter¬ 
ested in politics and allied himself with the Whig 
party, which was then in its infancy. He was 
elected a member of the legislature in 1828, and 
twice succeeded himself. His course while a State 
legislator was a creditable one. To him, more than 
to any other person, was due the repeal of the law 
that imprisoned persons for debt. His integrity 
was never in question, and another proof of the 
confidence of his friends was given in 1832, when 
they sent him to Congress. His re-election fol¬ 
lowed in 1836, ’38 and ’40, but he declined when 
urged to be a candidate again in 1842. 

He was a member of Congress at a time when it 
was famous for its great statesmen, the giants 
Webster, Clay and Calhoun being in the prime of 
their unsurpassable powers. While he could make 
no claim to the wonderful ability of those men, he 
was ranked among the ablest members and de¬ 
baters in the House. He was the author of the 
tariff of 1842, which did more than any other 
measure to revive and stir into life the industries 
of the country. 

In 1844, Fillmore was nominated for governor of 
his State, but it was an “off-year” for the Whigs, 
and he was defeated by Silas Wright. Three 
years later, he was elected State comptroller, serving 


116 


Lives of the Presidents. 


with the same public satisfaction that attended all 
his work, to the end of his term. 

We have learned of the election of General Zach¬ 
ary Taylor as President in 1848, and of his death 
in July, 1850. He was the second President to die 
in office and Fillmore, as Vice-President, was sworn 
in as his successor. It was during the brief occu¬ 
pancy of the office by General Taylor that the 
alarming struggle took place over the admission of 
California, with the result that it entered the Union 
as a free State through the adoption of Henry 
Clay’s compromise, known as the Omnibus Bill. 

No boy or girl can fully comprehend the bitter¬ 
ness which followed the passage of the fugitive 
slave law, as a part of that famous compromise bill. 
As has been already stated, the measure required 
the United States officers to arrest runaway slaves 
wherever they might be found and return them to 
their owners. The oath or declaration of the negro 
would not be accepted. He might be free born, 
but, unless the fact was proved by white men, he 
was hustled back to slavery. 

Hundreds of abolitionists in the North engaged 
actively in helping runaway slaves to freedom. 
There were places all the way from the Ohio River 
to Canada, where the negroes found friends who 
gave them food and shelter and kept them in hid¬ 
ing until a chance offered to shift them at night to 


Millard Fillmore. 


117 


the next point further north, where they were 
comparatively safe from pursuers. This method 
of aiding the fugitives to freedom was known as the 
“underground railroad,” and many hundreds of 
slaves escaped from bondage, through the help of 
the “agents” of the peculiar “railway.” 

More than one collision occurred between the 
pursuers and officers on one hand and the aboli¬ 
tionists on the other. Slaves after being captured 
by the former were rescued by mobs, and the 
anger on both sides became intense. It may be 
said that the last great fugitive slave case occurred 
in Boston in 1854. Anthony Burns, who escaped 
from Virginia, was arrested in the city on the 
charge of theft. The citizens were thrown into as 
much excitement as during the Boston massacre 
before the Revolution. The mass meetings were 
addressed by Wendell Phillips and Theodore 
Parker, who so fanned the indignation that the 
mob rushed to the jail with the intention of break¬ 
ing in the doors and releasing Burns, but were 
driven back by a pistol shot. Burns was tried, 
and, in accordance with law, it was ordered that he 
be returned to his owner. It was necessary to call 
out a large military force to convey him to the cut¬ 
ter Morris , which was waiting in the harbor, and 
many of the houses in Boston were draped in 
mourning. 


118 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Such was the feeling throughout the country, 
when Millard Fillmore became President. It was 
necessary for him to sign the fugitive slave bill in 
order to make it the law of the land, but the wrath 
of the North was at white heat before the measure 
reached him, since it was known that the bill 
would become law. Fillmore laid the matter before 
his Cabinet and every member agreed that it was a 
constitutional measure, as did the attorney-general, 
to whom it was referred. The President, there¬ 
fore, signed it with the other compromise measures. 

Although the motives of Fillmore were above 
question, yet this act was a fatal blow to his popu¬ 
larity in the North. He was condemned and 
charged with moral cowardice in surrendering to 
the dictation of the slavery men. Even the sup¬ 
port of the great Daniel Webster did not help him, 
for Webster, too, passed under the ban and never 
regained the confidence of the people. His chances 
of becoming President, for which he had yearned 
for years, were destroyed. 

President Fillmore was weakened by the fact 
that the Whigs were in a minority in both 
branches of Congress, so that many measures which 
he favored never became laws; but during his ad¬ 
ministration, cheap letter postage was introduced 
and a treaty was signed with Japan, by which its 
ports were opened to commerce. 


Millard Fillmore. 


119 


An impressive fact must be noticed. While Fill¬ 
more was President, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, 
John C. Calhoun and Ex-President Polk died; 
also many other leaders of less prominence. This 
wholesale sweeping away of these great men by the 
hand of death, brought forward a number of able 
anti-slavery champions in Congress to take their 
places, while equally able opponents were sent by 
the South to the halls of legislation. The illustri¬ 
ous groups helped to make history as was shown by 
the tremendous events which soon followed. 

Mr. Fillmore does not rank among the greatest 
of Presidents, but his place is with the most worthy 
and honorable of the noble line. One of the mem¬ 
bers of his Cabinet well sums up his character in a 
letter to General James Grant Wilson: 

“ Mr. Fillmore,” he says, “was a man of decided 
opinions, but he was always open to conviction. 
His aim was truth, and whenever he was convinced 
by reasoning that his first impressions were wrong, 
he had the moral courage to surrender them. But, 
when he had carefully examined the question and 
had satisfied himself that he was right, no power 
on earth could swerve him from what he believed 
to be the line of duty. * * * There were many 

things about Mr. Fillmore, aside from his public 
character, which often filled me with surprise. 
While he enjoyed none of the advantages of early 


120 


Lives of the Presidents . 


association with cultivated society, he possessed a 
grace and polish of manner which fitted him for the 
most refined circles of the metropolis. You saw, 
too, at a glance, that there was nothing in it which 
was assumed, but that it was the natural outward 
expression of inward refinement and dignity of 
character. I have witnessed, on several occasions, 
the display by him of attributes apparently of the 
most opposite character. When assailed in Con¬ 
gress, he exhibited a manly self-reliance and a lofty 
courage which commanded the admiration of every 
spectator, and yet no one ever manifested deeper 
sensibility, or more tender sympathy with a friend 
in affliction. * * * He seemed to have the 

peculiar faculty of adapting himself to every posi- 
sition in which he was called to serve the country, 
and, when advanced to the highest office, he so ful¬ 
filled his duties as to draw forth the commendation 
of the ablest men of the opposite party.” 

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the 
Presidency by the Native American party, but he 
received the electoral vote of only one State—Mary¬ 
land. His political career was over, and his life 
became quiet and retired. He made a tour of 
Europe, receiving many honors while abroad. He 
was an ardent supporter of the government in the 
War for the Union, and lived to see it restored, 
stronger and more firmly united than ever before. 
He died in Buffalo, March 7, 1874. 


FRANKLIN PIERCE. 

FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1853-1857. 

Franklin Pierce was born at Hillsboro, New 
Hampshire, November 23, 1804, and was the son 
of Benjamin Pierce, who was a soldier of the Revo¬ 
lution from the battle of Lexington until the sign¬ 
ing of the treaty of peace. 
He became a captain, and 
afterward was a strenuous 
adherent of Jefferson and 
Jackson. He was governor 
of New Hampshire for two 
terms and gave a careful 
training to his children. 

Franklin showed so much 
ability in early life that he 
was prepared for Bowdoin College, from which he 
was graduated third in his class in 1824. Two of 
his classmates were Henry W. Longfellow, the 
poet, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the novelist. A 
warm friendship existed between Hawthorne and 
Pierce throughout their lives. 

Naturally Pierce took to law, and, being admitted 
to the bar in 1827, began practice in his native 
town. He was deeply mortified by his complete 
failure with his first jury case, but declared that 



122 


Lives of the Presidents . 


he would yet succeed if clients could be found to 
trust him. His misstep when on the threshold of 
his career doubtless did him good service, in spur- 
ing him to renewed effort. 

Pierce’s manner made him popular, and he soon 
became prominent in politics. Like his father, he 
was a strong supporter of Jackson, and, as such, 
was elected in 1829, a member of the legislature. 
He was re-elected three times, and for two terms 
was Speaker of the house. At the end of his serv¬ 
ice, he was more popular than before. He was 
sent to the national House of Representatives in 
1833, and remained for two terms. It will be noted 
that he was not yet thirty years old, but his serv¬ 
ices were so acceptable to his State that he was 
elected to the Senate in 1837. He was the young¬ 
est member of that distinguished body, being just 
the legal age to be permitted to take his seat. 

There he found himself in illustrious company, 
for among his fellow-senators were Webster, Clay, 
Calhoun, Benton and Buchanan. A feeling of pro¬ 
priety kept him in the background, though he was 
not idle by any means. He carried through a 
number of good measures and won the friendship 
of the intellectual giants, with whom he was brought 
in contact. 

Mr. Pierce seemed to have tired of public life, 
for he resigned in 1842, and, returning to Concord, 


Franklin Pierce . 


123 


in his native State, resumed the practice of law. 
He had married Miss Jane Means Appleton, in 
1834, and found more enjoyment in domestic life 
than in breasting the stormy sea of politics. So 
when, in 1845, the governor of New Hampshire 
tendered the appointment of United States Senator 
to him to fill the vacancy made by the promotion 
of Levi Woodbury to the bench of the Supreme 
Court, he declined it, as also the nomination for the 
governorship, soon offered to him, and that of 
the office of United States attorney general, which 
President Polk urged him to accept. It would be 
hard to find in our country anyone thus willing to 
turn his face away from such honors. But in his 
letter of declination to President Polk, Mr. Pierce 
said that the only call that could again take him 
from his own hearthstone, must be the call of his 
country in time of war. 

That call was not long delayed. The war with 
Mexico began within the following year, and New 
Hampshire was asked to furnish a battalion of 
troops. When a student in college, Pierce showed 
so much interest in military matters, that at first 
he fell behind his class, through his neglect of 
study. His military ardor was now re-kindled. 
He enlisted as a private, and, throwing aside his 
law books, gave all his attention to tactics. His 
proficiency was so marked, and he was so well 


124 


Lives of the Presidents. 


liked, that he was speedily appointed Colonel of the 
Ninth Regiment of Infantry, and, in March, 1847, 
President Polk commissioned him brigadier general 
of volunteers. In the same month, he embarked 
at Newport, R. I., and landed with his troops at 
Vera Cruz in the latter part of June. 

The locality was very unhealthful, and many of 
the troops died of yellow fever. Nearly a month 
passed before transportation could be secured, but 
about the middle of July, General Pierce set out 
with his brigade to join General Scott with the 
main army at Puebla. After a trying march, the 
junction was effected on the 6th of August and Scott 
began his advance upon the city of Mexico. 

In the battles that marked that historical march, 
General Pierce displayed great personal bravery 
and endurance. His horse, while galloping through 
a tempest of shot and shell, stepped into a cleft 
between the rocks and fell, breaking his leg and 
badly injuring the knee of his rider. The surgeon 
insisted that Pierce should withdraw, but he re¬ 
fused, and mounting another horse, did not leave 
the saddle until near midnight. At daybreak he 
was in the saddle again. The pain of his limb 
became almost unbearable. When his horse re¬ 
fused to leap a ravine, Pierce dismounted and 
limped forward on foot, but sank to the ground in¬ 
sensible. He soon recovered, and still refused to 


Franklin Pierce. 


125 


leave the field. He was actively engaged in all 
the remaining battles which terminated with the 
capture of the city of Mexico and the ending of the 
war. 

Pierce won no special distinction in the war with 
Mexico, though his personal record was a fine one. 
The legislature of New Hampshire presented him 
with a sword and the soldiers who served under 
him were enthusiastic in his praise because of his 
kindness and consideration toward them. Until 
1852, he gave his undivided attention to his pro¬ 
fession, and advanced to the front rank. There 
was no more popular speaker or successful pleader 
in the State. 

General Pierce was a zealous supporter of Clay’s 
compromise bill of 1850. Although he had no 
liking for slavery, he was a strict constructionist, 
and hoped as did many others, that the acceptance 
of the compromise and its obedience, North and 
South, would bring an end to the slavery agitation. 

The Democratic convention to nominate candi¬ 
dates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency met 
in Baltimore, in 1852. Thirty-five ballots were 
cast, without the name of Pierce being mentioned. 
Then the Virginia delegation brought it forward, 
and on the forty-ninth ballot all the votes except 
eleven were cast for him. 

The Whigs nominated General Winfield Scott, 


126 Lives of the Presidents . 

who for more than ten years had been acting com- 
mander-in-chief of the American army and was the 
conqueror of Mexico. The whole country was famil¬ 
iar with his grand record from the war of 1812 down, 
but no person was ever nominated for the Presidency 
of whom so little was known as Franklin Pierce. 
When the news of his nomination went through 
the country, it was followed in nearly every case 
by the question: “Who is Franklin Pierce?” 

It did not take the people long, however, to learn 
all about him. It was found that he had a fine 
reputation, and that as a statesman he was vastly 
the superior of General Scott, whose personality 
was much less winning. When the electoral votes 
were counted, Pierce had received 254, while Scott 
had but 42. The only States carried by him were 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Vermont. 
It was the death blow to the Whig party, which 
soon crumbled to pieces. 

Stirring events were at hand and the events of 
Pierce’s administration foreshadowed the mighty 
struggle that was soon to rock the country from 
end to end. The baleful question of slavery ob¬ 
truded again. All the previous compromise meas¬ 
ures simply postponed the fateful conflict that was 
now near at hand. The religious denominations, 
excepting the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, 
were split apart by the quarrel, and the Whig party 


Franklin Pierce . 


127 


was not only split apart but shattered into such fine 
fragments that no politician’s art could bring them 
together again. 

The most startling act came in 1854. We have 
learned of the adoption of the Missouri Compromise, 
in 1820, by which it was agreed that the southern 
boundary of that State should be the dividing line of 
freedom and slavery in all the territory west of the 
Mississippi. It became necessary, in 1854, to form 
Territorial governments for Kansas and Nebraska, 
both of which lie to the north of the dividing line. 
Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and a number of 
prominent Democratic leaders believed that the 
Compromise of 1850 changed this. Accordingly, 
Douglas introduced a bill for the organization of 
the two Territories, without any legislation as to 
slavery, leaving the people to decide the question 
for themselves. Despite the savage wrangle over 
the question, the bill became law through the votes 
of northern and southern Democrats and former 
members of the Whig party in the South. 

The resentment of the North over this action 
led to the formation of the Republican party. 
Nebraska lies so far north that it suffered no dis¬ 
turbances. Prohibition of slavery was accepted 
there as settled from the first, but civil war broke 
out in Kansas. The North hurried emigrants 
thither furnished with Bibles and rifles, while the 


128 L ives of the Presidents . 

slavery men crossed by the hundred from Mis- 
souri to vote against freedom. Bloody conflicts 
followed and the furious struggle was not ended 
until 1858, when the opponents of slavery gained 
the mastery and Kansas became free. 

In one respect, President Pierce’s administration 
differed from the others. Not a single change oc¬ 
curred in his Cabinet while he held oflice,—a fact 
which, as yet, can be said of no other President. 
Although Jefferson Davis had been his Secretary 
of War, Mr. Pierce was an unflinching supporter 
of the government when the struggle for the pres¬ 
ervation of the Union came. He lived in retire¬ 
ment and suffered grievous domestic affliction. 
Two of his children died in early youth and his 
youngest son lost his life in a railway accident 
only a few weeks before his father’s inauguration 
as President. The parents were with him at the 
time and saw him killed. The mother never re¬ 
covered from the shock, and the whole nation sym¬ 
pathized with her. She presided, however, with 
dignity at the White House during her husband’s 
term and died at Andover, Mass., December 2, 
1863. Ex-President Pierce passed away at Con¬ 
cord, N. H., October 8, 1869. 


JAMES BUCHANAN. 

FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1857-1861. 

James Buchanan was born near Mercersburg, 
Pa., April 23, 1791. He received his early educa¬ 
tion at the school near his home, and, entering 
Dickinson College, was graduated at the age of 
eighteeen. He took up the 
study of law, and, being ad¬ 
mitted to the bar, opened an 
office in Lancaster, in 1812. 
Although the fifteenth Pres¬ 
ident is not generally re¬ 
garded as a military man, 
yet he made an impassioned 
patriotic address to his towns¬ 
men, when the news of the 
capture of Washington reached Lancaster, and was 
among the first to enroll his name for the defense 
of Baltimore. Happily, perhaps, his services were 
not needed in the military branch, and so it is im¬ 
possible to conjecture to what heights of fame he 
might have attained as a leader of soldiers and a 
creator of campaigns. 

In the autumn of 1814, Mr. Buchanan was elected 
as a member of the State Legislature, and re-elected 
a second term, after which he gave his attention 



130 


Lives of the Presidents . 


to the practice of his profession, in which he at¬ 
tained marked success. He was devotedly attached 
to a young lady, to whom he became engaged in 
marriage, but she died unexpectedly, and, true to 
her memory, Mr. Buchanan remained a bachelor 
to his death. To lessen his grief, he gave up his 
intention of withdrawing from politics, and, accept¬ 
ing a nomination for Congress, was elected in 1820. 

He was classed as a Federalist, though he had 
been an ardent supporter cf the war of 1812; but 
he entered Congress, it will be remembered, during 
the “era of good feeling,” under Monroe. There 
was little sectional feeling at that time, the atten¬ 
tion of the country being turned to internal im¬ 
provements and the development of its wonderful 
resources. He remained in Congress for ten years, 
which carried him into the first part of Jackson’s 
administrations. He was a strong supporter of 
Jackson, who held him in so high esteem that, in 
1831, he appointed him minister to Russia. He 
negotiated a treaty of commerce, and so won the 
good opinion of the Emperor that when he de¬ 
parted, in 1833, the Emperor asked him to re¬ 
quest the President to send another minister just 
like him. 

Few public men have been so continually in 
office as Mr. Buchanan. He had been at home a 
little more than a year, when, in December, 1834, 


James Buchanan . 


131 


he was appointed to the United States Senate. In 
that body he did not hesitate to measure swords 
with the greatest debaters, such as Clay, Webster 
and Benton, and he held his own against them. 
He continued loyal to President Jackson through¬ 
out his whole aggressive course, and was equally 
faithful to Van Buren, his successor. 

Mr. Buchanan’s first appointment to the Senate 
was to fill a vacancy, but the legislature re-elected 
him in 1837, it being the first time that such action 
had been taken by that body. Van Buren tendered 
the place of attorney-general to him, but he de¬ 
clined, preferring that of Senator, where he be¬ 
lieved he could render more efficient service to the 
party in whose principles he believed. He was 
elected Senator for a third term, in 1843, and was 
put forward as the choice of Pennsylvania for the 
Presidential nomination in the year succeeding, 
but withdrew his name in order not to injure the 
chances of Polk. 

When President Polk formed his Cabinet, he 
asked Mr. Buchanan to take the place of Secretary 
of State. He accepted and was called upon to 
meet two questions of the utmost delicacy and dif¬ 
ficulty. The first was the settlement of the bound¬ 
ary dispute between Oregon and the British pos¬ 
sessions. This was settled by treaty in 1846, 
which fixed the boundary as it is at present. Great 


132 


Lives of the Presidents. 


Britain and the United States each gave up a 
part of its claim, and settled upon a middle line as 
the true boundary. The second was the question 
respecting the annexation of Texas. That, as al¬ 
ready shown, resulted in the Mexican War, and 
finally in the acquisition of more territory by us 
than equalled the area of the whole country at the 
close of the Revolution. 

The election of 1848 resulted in the success of 
the Whigs, and Mr. Buchanan withdrew to Wheat- 
land, near Lancaster, where he had purchased a 
small estate and owned a house. He did not abate 
his interest in politics, but maintained a large cor¬ 
respondence with the political leaders of the coun¬ 
try, his influence being very great. He warmly 
favored Clay’s Compromise measures of 1850. He 
declared himself opposed to the continual slavery 
agitation in the North and insisted that the fugi¬ 
tive slave law should be strictly obeyed. His pleas 
on these questions, although ably put, were as use¬ 
less as trying to whistle down the whirlwind. 

The name of Mr. Buchanan was presented to 
the national convention, which, in 1852, placed 
Franklin Pierce in nomination. Naturally, Mr. 
Buchanan did all he could to bring about the elec¬ 
tion of Pierce. He took the ground that one of the 
most dangerous mistakes possible for Americans to 
make is to elect a man President for no other rea- 


James Buchanan . 


133 


son than that he had been successful in war. 

President Pierce, upon assuming office, appointed 
Mr. Buchanan minister to England. He arrived 
in that country in August, 1853, and remained 
until the spring of 1856. He filled the responsible 
office with dignity, and was treated with distin¬ 
guished courtesy by Queen Victoria and the repre¬ 
sentatives of Her Majesty’s government. 

When Mr. Buchanan reached his native land, 
he was a personage of general interest, for many 
saw in him the next nominee of the Democratic 
party for the Presidency. He put forth no effort 
to secure the nomination, and did not believe it 
would go to him. He was nominated, however, 
and in the electoral college received 174 votes, to 
114 cast for Fremont and 8 for Millard Fillmore. 

President Buchanan’s management of our foreign 
relations was remarkably successful, but the dread¬ 
ful condition of our domestic affairs, with the black 
cloud of civil war overspreading the sky, riveted 
the attention of every one. Rapidly and inevitably 
the chasm opened between the two sections, and 
events seemed to unite to drive the North and 
South apart. In 1857, the Supreme Court rend¬ 
ered the Dred Scott Decision, as it was called. 
Dred Scott was a negro slave, whose master, a sur¬ 
geon in the army, in the course of his duties, took 
him into one of the free States. Scott brought 


134 


Lives of the Presidents. 


suit for his freedom on the ground that slavery was 
illegal in the State to which his owner had gone 
with him. Several varying decisions were made 
until finally the question passed up to the United 
States Supreme Court, the highest tribunal in the 
land. There were eight members of this Court, 
six of whom were slaveholders, and they agreed 
upon the decision, the other two dissenting. 

This decision was to the effect that slaves were 
not persons , but property , and that a slave owner 
could take them wherever he chose in the Union, 
without losing ownership in them, and, further¬ 
more, Congress had no right to forbid slavery in 
any of the Territories. It followed, as a conse¬ 
quence, that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 
was unconstitutional, and that a slave owner could 
go Boston, New York, Philadelphia or any part of 
the free States, with his slaves, and that he would 
not forfeit his rights in them any more than if 
they were so many cattle or a part of his house¬ 
hold furniture. 

This decision was gratifying to the South, but 
so abhorrent to the North that it refused to accept 
or be bound by it. Many northern Democrats 
ceased to affiliate with the southern wing. They 
clearly saw that no more northern elections could 
be carried upon that issue. Some of them joined 
the Republicans, who rapidly increased in numbers. 


Janies Buchanan . 


135 


Others rallied round Douglas, who argued that the 
Dred Scott Decision did not mean as much as the 
southern Democrats claimed. Politics were more 
jumbled than ever, and it looked as if the whole 
country was going to ruin. 

John Brown, born in 1800, in Connecticut, was 
a fanatic on the subject of slavery. He and his 
sons had taken an aggressive part in the fierce 
warfare in Kansas, on the side of freedom. He 
formed the wild scheme of freeing all the slaves 
in the South, by inciting them to rise against their 
masters. He fixed upon Harper’s Ferry, in Vir¬ 
ginia, as a good place to begin his crusade, and 
secretly gathered a small force opposite the town, 
one night in October, 1859. Crossing the river, 
they seized Harper’s Ferry and took possession of 
the United States arsenal. 

The startling news soon spread and a force of 
marines was sent from Washington under Colonel 
Robert E. Lee, who besieged Brown in an engine 
house, and after a desperate resistance, captured 
him; He and several of his men were placed on 
trial, found guilty and hanged at Charlestown, 
Va., December 2, 1859. 

Although Brown was responsible alone for this 
act, yet the South believed it was an inevitable re¬ 
sult of abolition agitation and many believed that 
leading Republicans had instigated the frightful 


136 


Lives of the Presidents . 


attempt to array the slaves against their masters 
and their families. The breach yawned still wider 
between the North and South. 

The political matters were so awry and topsy¬ 
turvy that in the autumn of 1860, four tickets were 
placed in the presidential field. The American 
party nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, on the 
platform of “the Constitution, the Union and the 
enforcement of the laws.” The northern Demo¬ 
crats put forward Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, 
who believed that each Territory should decide the 
question of slavery for itself, but they were willing 
to let the Supreme Court decide the question. The 
southern Democrats, with John C. Breckenridge, 
of Kentucky, as their candidate, declared that the 
United States government should protect slavery 
in the Territories, whenever a slave owner went 
thither. The Republicans nominated Abraham 
Lincoln, of Illinois, and insisted that Congress 
should forbid slavery in the Territories. 

In the electoral college, Lincoln received 180 
votes, Breckinridge 72, Bell 39 and Douglas 12. 
During the remaining days of his term, President 
Buchanan did all he could to stem the swelling 
tide of disunion; but several members of his Cabi¬ 
net were violent Secessionists and used every effort 
to strengthen the South and hasten the disruption 
of the Union. South Carolina seceded within the 


James Buchanan. 


137 


month following the election of Lincoln, and others 
did the same, until, by the 4th of March, 1861, 
seven States had declared themselves out of the 
Union. 

Finally, President Buchanan laid down the cares 
of his most trying office and went to his home at 
Lancaster, where he died June 1, 1868. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1861-1865. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin (now 
Larue) county, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His 
grandfather had emigrated thither in 1780. He 
was killed four years later by Indians and left 
three sons, the youngest, 
named Thomas, being the 
father of Abraham. Thomas 
had little enterprise or abil¬ 
ity. He learned the trade 
of a carpenter, and, in 1806, 
married Nancy Hanks, much 
the superior of her husband 
in intellect and enterprise. 
They had three children, 
one of whom, a daughter, lived to maturity and 
married, and the youngest, a boy, died in infancy, 
Abraham was the second son. 

Thomas Lincoln, in 1816, moved to Indiana, and 
settled near Little Pigeon Creek, not far from the 
Ohio River. The family were in the depths of pov¬ 
erty and no boy could have toiled harder than 
young Lincoln on the small farm, where no labor 
was too severe for him. He grew into a lank, 
awkward lad, with great strength, good nature and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 





Abraham Lincoln . 


139 


remarkable natural mental powers. His mother 
died two years after the removal to Indiana, and 
his father, while on a visit to Kentucky, married a 
widow named Sarah Bush Johnston. She was an 
industrious woman and proved a valuable help¬ 
mate to her husband. 

The neighborhood was sparsely settled by rough, 
ignorant people and the schools were as poor as 
they could be. Abraham spent a few months in 
one of the miserable “halls of learning,’’ where he 
soon learned all the teacher knew. He was fond 
of books, but the supply was scant. He read 
everything he could borrow, acquired skill in pen¬ 
manship, and developed enough business judgment 
to be given charge of a cargo of farm products, 
which he took down the river in a boat to New 
Orleans and sold. 

Like many impoverished people, Thomas Lin¬ 
coln was fond of moving, and, in 1830, he changed 
his home to Macon county, Illinois. By that time, 
the son was six feet four inches tall, with the 
strength of a giant. His labor was worth that of 
two able-bodied men, and he cheerfully gave his 
father all the help he could. He split rails with 
which the farm was fenced and helped to clear the 
fields for cultivation. Then, since there was no 
hope of bettering his condition on the wretched 
place, Abraham hired out to a neighbor, whom he 


140 


Lives of the Presidents . 


helped to build a flat boat and went with it to New 
Orleans on a trading voyage. Returning to New 
Salem, where his employer had a store, he hired 
out as a clerk. Business was not brisk and the 
young man improved his leisure by studying and 
reading. He was interested in surveying and law, 
and made advances in both branches. Everybody 
liked him, for his good humor and kindness never 
seemed ruffled, and as a pleasant story teller he 
had no equal. 

This was in 1831, and the following year the 
Black Hawk war broke out. The scene of hostili¬ 
ties was so near that there was much excitement 
throughout Illinois. Lincoln was one of the first 
to volunteer and was elected captain of a company., 
which was in service a little more than a month, 
when it was mustered out. Lincoln re-enlisted as 
a private, but the war soon ended, and, returning 
home, he became a candidate for the legislature. 
About every one who knew him gave him his vote, 
but his opponent must have had a larger acquaint¬ 
ance, for he was successful. 

Lincoln was still very poor, and it was necessary 
to find out some way of earning a living. The 
only store in the place was offered to him, and he 
gave his notes in payment for the amount. He 
took a partner who was a shiftless felluw, while 
Lincoln himself was not particularly gifted as a 


Abraham Lincoln. 


141 


merchant. The natural result followed. The busi¬ 
ness was soon wrecked, and he was left burdened 
with debts. By hard work and close economy, 
however, he was able, in the course of a few years, 
to pay every dollar. 

In 1833, he was appointed postmaster of New 
Salem, and held the office for three years. He was 
the most popular official the place ever had. Know¬ 
ing every one in the neighborhood, he formed a 
system of free delivery, which consisted in carrying 
around the mail, when the persons were slow in 
calling, in the top of his hat, and leaving the let¬ 
ters at the doors of his friends. The pay was 
*small, but he united it with the office of assistant 
to the county surveyor, and thus gained time to 
continue the study of law and to give his attention 
to politics, in which he had become much interested. 

In August, 1834, he was again nominated for the 
legislature and was elected, running ahead of his 
ticket. He furnished himself with a suit of home- 
spun and walked a hundred miles to the capital. 
He was re-elected three times, and then declined 
another nomination. He had continued the study 
of law and settled in Springfield, where he formed 
a partnership with an old friend. 

In 1846, he was nominated for Congress and de¬ 
feated that remarkable pioneer preacher, Peter 
Cartwright. He served only one term, declining 


142 


Lives of the Presidents . 


the office of governor of Oregon, which was offered 
him during the administrations of Taylor and Fill¬ 
more. 

By this time, Lincoln had become a power in 
Whig politics. His never failing fund of anecdote, 
his happy humor, his honesty, and his power of 
“putting things” in his addresses made him the 
most popular of speakers. Behind all this, too, 
was a reserve of mental resources which proved 
him to be a man of extraordinary power. His 
position at the bar had become a commanding one. 
No one could surpass him in appealing to a jury, 
and his knowledge of law was deep and sound. 

His conscientiousness marked him from the first. 
When a clerk in a store, he was known to walk 
several miles to carry a few pennies change to a 
customer that had overpaid him. If a client came 
to him, he listened attentively to his story, and, if 
satisfied that he was in the wrong, he told him so 
and advised him not to go into court. If the client 
persisted, Lincoln referred him to some other law¬ 
yer, for he would not take a case, unless he fully 
believed in its justice. The tottering old man 
without a penny, the impoverished negro, the 
whimsical “crank,” found as sympathetic a listener 
in him as did the client who was a millionaire, and 
he labored as devotedly for a client, knowing that he 
would never receive a penny for his service, as he 



Abraham Lincoln . 


143 


did for the railway corporation, whose fee amounted 
to thousands of dollars. 

Mr. Lincoln was on the high road to success in 
his profession, with no intention of re-entering 
politics, when he was aroused to indignation by 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He looked 
upon it as a gross breach of faith and defeated the 
author of the bill, Stephen A. Douglas, in his can¬ 
vas for the United States Senate, by throwing all 
his influence in favor of a Democrat, who opposed 
the compromise. 

As we have learned, the Republican party soon 
took form, and Mr. Lincoln was universally looked 
upon as the leader in Illinois. He was selected as 
the candidate against Mr. Douglas in the contest 
for senator-at-large in the State, and challenged 
Douglas to a series of debates. The challenge was 
accepted and the strange contest drew the atten¬ 
tion of the whole country. Both were debaters of 
remarkable power, but the ground taken by Lin¬ 
coln was loftier and won him more enduring popu¬ 
larity. He failed of success in the senatorial 
contest, and yet the far reaching result was an 
overwhelming triumph, for it resulted in making 
him President of the United States, while Douglas, 
by some of his utterances, so roused the distrust 
of the South that he was defeated in his attempts 
to reach the same high office. . 


144 


Lives of the Presidents . 


It should be added, that despite their radical 
differences in politics, Lincoln and Douglas were 
warm personal friends, and so remained through 
life. When Lincoln was elected President, Douglas 
pledged to do everything in his power to help hold 
up his hands. 

We have learned that in the Presidential election 
of 1860, Mr. Lincoln was successful over all his op¬ 
ponents. The South, angered by Republican suc¬ 
cess, then proceeded to carry out its threats of 
breaking up the Union. South Carolina seceded 
December 20, 1860, and was soon followed by 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana 
and Texas. A meeting of delegates was held at 
Montgomery, Alabama, in February, 1861, at which 
the provisional government of the “Confederate 
States of America” was formed and Jefferson Davis 
was elected its President, with Alexander H. 
Stephens as Vice-President. The South was united 
and determined; it had skillful officers and brave 
soldiers, and it was resolved to remain out of the 
Union, no matter what efforts were put forth to 
. bring it back to its allegiance. 

This was the tremendous task which confronted 
Abraham Lincoln, when he was inaugurated as 
President of the United States, for neither he nor 
the lovers of the Union could consent to stand idly 
by while their beloved country was torn apart 


Abraham Lincoln. 


145 


piecemeal. Other States seceded, until the num¬ 
ber was eleven. 

The history of the War for the Union is told 
elsewhere. We have all learned of the terrific bat¬ 
tles, the defeats and successes, the “bloody agony 
and sweat” which was continued through four 
years, until at last peace came, with the Confeder¬ 
ate surrender at Appomattox, in April, 1865, and 
the glorious Union, with every star undimmed, 
was restored, stronger, more united, and with a 
grander future before it than had ever been 
dreamed of by the most ardent lover of his country. 

Washington was the founder of the Union and 
Lincoln its preserver. The latter ranks among 
our Presidents as second only to Washington, and 
there are those who place them on the same plane. 
The patriotism of one equalled that of the other, 
and the prodigious problem which confronted each 
was almost the same. Lincoln displayed a patience 
that approached the sublime, when the load which 
rested upon his shoulders was of mountainous 
weight. He had the genius of knowing precisely 
the right moment when to take a decisive step. 
His Emancipation Proclamation was not issued a 
day too soon nor a day too late. His judgment of 
men was instinctive and unerring, and it may be 
safely said that no man of his time could have 
steered the ship of State through the shoals and 


146 


Lives of the Presidents . 


past the rocks during those awful years with the 
marvelous skill and success displayed by him. 

On the night of April 14, 1865, soon after the 
fall of Richmond and the surrender of General 
Lee, the wan and wearied President, happy and 
hopeful because of the triumph that had come 
after years of trial, suffering and death, was seated 
with his wife in a box at Ford’s Theatre, in Wash¬ 
ington, when a miscreant actor, named John Wilkes 
Booth, stirred by an insane conceit, stole up be¬ 
hind him and fired a pistol bullet into his brain. 
The President lingered without speaking, until the 
next morning, April 15, when he passed away, and, 
when he died, there died one of the grandest figures 
that has ever illumined the pages of American 
history. 


ANDREW JOHNSON. 

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1865-1869. 

Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North 
Carolina, December 29, 1808. His parents were 
as poor as those of Abraham Lincoln, and his father 
died when the son was only four years old. His 
mother, unable to send him 
to school, apprenticed him 
at the age of ten years to a 
tailor. The boy at that time 
could neither read nor write, 
and learned his alphabet 
from the workmen around 
him. A benevolent old gen¬ 
tleman used to come to the 
shop now and then and read 
aloud to the employees. His kindness awakened a 
desire on the part of young Johnson to learn to 
read, that he might enjoy the pleasure to be de¬ 
rived from books. 

When sixteen years old, he went to Laurens 
Court House and labored as a journey-man tailor. 
He stayed for about two years, when he returned 
to Raleigh, and, in the autumn of 1826, the family, 
consisting of his mother, step-father and himself, 
set out for Greenville, Tennessee. They rode in a 



148 


Lives of the Presidents. 


two-wheeled cart, which held all their earthly pos¬ 
sessions, and which was drawn by a wheezy pony 
that had been blind for years. 

The best of good fortune came to Andrew John¬ 
son before he had attained his majority, for he mar¬ 
ried Eliza McArdle, a refined and educated woman, 
who gave him instruction and read to him while he 
was at work. What education he acquired was 
really due to this most excellent woman. Who 
would have dreamed that a tailor’s apprentice, hardly 
able at his marriage to write his name, would live 
to become President of the United States? But 
nothing is impossible in this country to the youth 
that has the ability, the ambition and perseverance 
to toil onward in the face of every obstacle to the 
end. 

There must have been inherent mental strength 
in the young man, for he was elected Alderman 
three times, and, in 1830, when only twenty-two 
years old, was chosen Mayor. Five years later, he 
was elected to the legislature, and re-elected in 
1839. He grew rapidly in popularity and political 
strength, and became one of the most effective 
speakers in the State. 

In 1841, he was chosen to the State Senate, and 
two years later was sent to Congress. He was a 
Democrat in politics and urged the annexation of 
Texas. Returned to Congress in 1845, he was a 


Andrew Johnson. 


149 


friend throughout of Polk’s administration. The 
loyalty of Johnson’s friends was shown by his re- 
election regularly to Congress until 1853. He was 
emphatic in his views and held little faith in com¬ 
promises, believing them to be makeshifts, which 
only postponed the trouble they meant to cure, but 
he supported the compromise of 1850 as a matter 
of expediency. 

In 1853, the Whigs so gerrymandered his district 
that he was defeated for Congress. But he was 
not to be repressed in that summary way, and an¬ 
nounced himself as a candidate for the governor¬ 
ship. He was elected, and by his course added to 
the reputation he gained long before as the friend 
of the mechanic and laboring man. The election 
of 1855 was marked by intense bitterness, Johnson 
being vehemently opposed by the famous Parson 
Brownlow and other Whig leaders, but he won 
again in the face of the forces arrayed against him. 

One of Johnson’s favorite measures for years was 
a homestead law. This gives the right to any citi¬ 
zen to enter upon 160 acres of unappropriated 
lands at $1.25 per acre, and after five years’ actual 
residence to own it. Johnson was elected to the 
United States Senate in 1857, and so vigorously 
urged this bill, that it passed both houses the fol¬ 
lowing year, but was vetoed by President Buchanan. 
Johnson revived the measure, which finally became 


150 


Lives of the Presidents. 


a law in 1862, and has proved of immense benefit 
to western settlement. 

Johnson’s position was peculiar in the violent 
slavery agitation. He accepted slavery as guaran¬ 
teed by the Constitution, and thus repelled the Re¬ 
publicans, but he was as resolute in his unionism 
as was General Jackson, and this caused the south¬ 
ern members, who favored secession, to hold aloof 
from him. In the election of 1860, he supported 
Breckinridge, the pro-slavery candidate. He could 
not believe in the organized success of an attempt 
to break up the Union, but before he took his seat 
in Congress again, he saw his error. 

No one could fail to admire the heroism of this 
southern member, in his fervid denunciations of 
the secessionists. “They should be arrested,” he 
thundered on the floor of Congress, “tried for trea¬ 
son, and, if found guilty, every one of them hanged!” 
The North was thrilled by these utterances and 
the South inflamed to resentment against him. 
The secessionists had the upper hand in western 
and middle Tennessee and were ready to lynch 
him. 

On his way thither, the train was stopped by a 
mob at Liberty, Va., who started to enter his car 
with the purpose of hanging him to the limb of the 
nearest tree. As the leaders appeared at the door, 
they saw Johnson awaiting them with cocked re- 


Andrew Johnson . 


151 


volver in hand. They scrambled out and he con¬ 
tinued his journey, but was threatened at other 
points. 

East Tennessee was stanchly loyal, and at the 
mention of Johnson’s name it was cheered to the 
echo. His vehement unionism knew no abate¬ 
ment, and on the 4th of March, 1862, President 
Lincoln appointed him military governor of Ten¬ 
nessee. His administration was characteristic and 
what everybod}' expected. When the city council 
of Nashville refused to take the oath of allegiance, 
he removed them and appointed those who would. 
He kept the Union sentiment alive by frequent 
meetings, many of which he attended. His vigor¬ 
ous course saved the city from capture by a supe¬ 
rior Confederate force, and he raised more than 
20,000 men for service in the State. He levied an 
assessment upon the wealthy people in Nashville, 
who sympathized with secession, and distributed 
it among the families of those whose male mem¬ 
bers had been forced into the war. Although he 
ruled with the sterness of a czar, his tact and 
judgment were so sound that he greatly strength¬ 
ened the Union cause in his State. 

Before the convention which re-nominated Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln met, the feeling had become general 
that recognition should be given to the Union 
element in the South, which had suffered so much 


152 


Lives of the Presidents . 


for its loyalty. The bravest, ablest and most 
deserving of these men was Andrew Johnson, 
who was placed on the ticket, and thus, on 
March 4, 1865, became Vice-President of the 
United States. 

In the following month, President Lincoln was 
assassinated, and on the same day that he died, 
Andrew Johnson was sworn in as his constitutional 
successor. There were many misgivings as to his 
course. While the heart of the great Lincoln was 
full of charity and kindness, it was known that 
Johnson hated the dominant classes in the South 
with a burning hatred. He looked upon them as 
the authors of all the bloodshed, misery and suffer¬ 
ing of the preceding four years, and would have 
been glad to see them executed for what they had 
done. It was believed that he would pursue a 
bloody and retaliatory course. He offered a re¬ 
ward of $100,000 for the capture of Jefferson 
Davis and the leaders of secession, accusing them 
of having conspired to bring about the assas¬ 
sination of President Lincoln. There was never 
a shadow to justify this wild charge, but it showed 
the consuming resentment of the President toward 
the southern leaders. He determined to arrest 
General Lee and bring him to trial for treason, 
despite the parole which General Grant had accep¬ 
ted from him. Lee appealed to Grant, who warned 


Andrew Johnson . 


153 


Johnson that if he took such a step, he would re¬ 
sign his commission in the army. 

By and by, the ijeaction came and the President 
went to the other extreme. The most perplexing 
problem was as to what should be done with the 
voters in the States that had seceded. Utter con¬ 
fusion reigned among them. President Johnson 
formed the plan of appointing provisional or tem¬ 
porary governors of such States. These governors 
were to call conventions of delegates, elected by 
the white or former voters. This was done, and 
the conventions thus called repealed the ordinances 
of secession, pledged themselves never to pay any 
debts contracted in the defense of the Confederacy 
and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which 
abolished slavery. This amendment having been 
adopted by three-fourths of the States, became a 
part of the Constitution in December, 1865. 

Such was President Johnson’s plan of reconstruc¬ 
tion. It was unsatisfactory to the Republicans, 
because it did not give protection to the freedmen, 
as the late slaves were called. The southern people 
did not believe the negroes would work, now that 
there were no slave drivers to force them to do so, 
and the new governments enacted laws which pun¬ 
ished idleness by imprisonment. - When Congress 
met in December, 1865, it refused to admit the 
members from the southern States. The Repub- 


154 


Lives of the Presidents . 


licans had a two-thirds majority in both houses 
and could pass what laws they chose over the Pres¬ 
ident’s veto. • 

Johnson insisted that Congress had no more right 
to keep out the newly elected southern members 
than the States had to secede. The northern Demo¬ 
crats agreed with him, as did those in the South, 
but since the latter were denied admission, their 
views did not count for anything. 

The elections of 1866 insured a large Republican 
majority in Congress for two years more, and 
that party now proceeded to carry out its plan of 
reconstruction. This plan was to prevent the Con¬ 
federate leaders from voting and to allow the ne¬ 
groes to vote. To bring this about, the lately 
seceding States were placed under military gov¬ 
ernors who should call new conventions to form 
State governments, at which conventions the freed- 
men, and not the leading Confederates, were to 
vote. When this plan was carried out, the south¬ 
ern States would be admitted to representation in 
Congress. 

President Johnson vetoed these bills, which were 
passed in 1867, over his veto, and he was obliged 
to appoint military governors. The work of re¬ 
construction went on, but it was not until 1870, 
that the last southern State was re-admitted. The 
quarrel between Congress and the President grew 


Andrew Johnson . 


155 


fiercer as the work of reconstruction progressed. 
The President had a quick temper and was pro¬ 
voked by opposition. He attempted to remove 
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, against the 
refusal of the Senate to confirm the removal, and 
he ordered Stanton’s successor to take possession 
of the office. 

This led to the President’s impeachment. He 
was brought to trial before the Senate, but escaped 
conviction by a single vote. At the end of his 
term, he returned to Tennessee and was defeated 
as a candidate for the Senate, and afterward as 
Congressman from the state-at-large. In January, 
1875, however, he was elected United States Sena¬ 
tor and took his seat at the extra session of that 
year. On his return home, while on a visit to his 
daughter near Carter’s Station, in East Tennessee, 
he was stricken with paralysis, July 30, and died 
the next day. 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT. 

EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT.—1869-1877. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born at Point Pleas¬ 
ant, Clermont county, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and 
was the son of Jesse R. Grant and Hannah Simp¬ 
son Grant. Ulysses was the eldest of six children. 

The father was a tanner, but 
the work was distasteful to 
the son, who spent his early 
boyhood on his parent’s farm. 
He attended the village 
school, where he attracted no 
attention by any special bril¬ 
liancy in his studies. He 
was a deliberate, thoughtful 
lad, and received an appointment to a cadetship at 
the West Point Military Academy, in 1839. Al¬ 
though he was named Hiram Ulysses at his birth, 
his appointment, through a mistake, was made out 
for Ulysses Simpson. The officials at the Academy 
were told of the error, but did not feel at liberty to 
correct it, and it so remained. He was graduated 
in 1843, twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. 

In accordance with the custom, he was commis¬ 
sioned a brevet second lieutenant on his gradua¬ 
tion, and attached to the Fourth Infantry, stationed 





Ulysses Simpson Grant. 


157 


at Jefferson Barracks, near the city of St. Louis. 
In September, 1845, he was commissioned as sec¬ 
ond lieutenant and went to Corpus Christi to join 
the command of General Zachary Taylor. 

Lieutenant Grant participated in the battles of 
Palo Alto and of Resaca de la Palma. He was 
appointed regimental quartermaster, despite which 
he took an active part in the assault on Monterey, 
commanding the regiment upon the death of the ad¬ 
jutant, who was killed during the charge. When 
his regiment was transferred to Worth’s division, 
he assisted in the siege of Vera Cruz, and then, 
joining the advance upon the city of Mexico, Lieu¬ 
tenant Grant was engaged in the battles of Cerro 
Gordo, of Churubusco and of Molino del Rey. His 
services procured him the brevet of first lieutenant. 
Again, at the storming of Chapultepec, his con¬ 
spicuous bravery was rewarded by his being bre¬ 
veted as captain. 

He was among those who entered the city of 
Mexico, which terminated the war. When the 
troops were withdrawn in the summer of 1848, he 
accompanied his regiment to Pascagoula, Miss. 
While at St. Louis, on a leave of absence, he was 
married in August, 1848, to Miss Julia B. Dent, of 
that city. 

After serving at various posts, Grant accom¬ 
panied his regiment to California, in the summer 


158 


Lives of the Presidents . 


of 1852. They remained but a few weeks, when 
they were transferred to Fort Vancouver, Oregon. 
He received his promotion to a captaincy, in August, 

1853, and assumed command of his company, sta¬ 
tioned at Humboldt Bay, California. 

Promotion in the army is slow in time of peace, 
there being instances where thirty years have 
passed before a lieutenant was advanced to a cap¬ 
taincy. The routine, too, becomes so monoto¬ 
nous that it drives many officers to surrender 
their commission. Captain Grant saw so little 
prospect of promotion, that he resigned July 31, 

1854, and returned to St. Louis. He engaged in 
farming and the real estate business with so mod¬ 
erate success that in May, 1860, he removed to 
Galena, Illinois, and became a clerk in the hard¬ 
ware and leather store of his father, where he was 
employed when the country was startled by the 
news of the firing upon Fort Sumter. 

With his natural patriotism, Grant’s sympathies 
were roused and he entered ardently into the meas¬ 
ures for the defense of the Union. A company of 
volunteers was quickly raised, and he, as the only 
educated military man in the place, drilled them 
to a high degree of efficiency. Then he accom¬ 
panied them to Springfield, the capital. Governor 
Yates felt the need of just such a man, and em¬ 
ployed him as mustering-in officer. Grant sent a 


Ulysses Simpson Grant . 


159 


letter to Washington, offering his services, but no 
attention was paid to his letter. In June, he was 
appointed Colonel of the Twenty-First Illinois regi¬ 
ment of infantry, and, on the 3d of July, he led it 
to Palmyra, Mo., and then to Salt River, where it 
was employed in guarding a portion of the Hanni¬ 
bal & St. Joseph Railway. 

General Pope, commander of the district, was at 
Mexico, and Grant was assigned to the command 
of a sub-district under him. He was commis¬ 
sioned a brigadier-general of volunteers August 7, 
and finally given command of the district of South¬ 
eastern Missouri, with headquarters at Cairo, where 
he arrived early in September. 

Learning that the Confederates intended to oc¬ 
cupy Paducah, Ky., Grant seized it ahead of them, 
and thus did much to maintain the supremacy of 
the Union in that section. He attacked the enemy 
at Belmont, and in the fight had his horse shot 
under him. He captured a number of prisoners, 
but the Confederates were reinforced and he re¬ 
turned to Columbus. 

After several requests, he obtained the permis¬ 
sion of General Halleck to attack the strong posi¬ 
tions of Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and Fort 
Donelson, on the Cumberland, eleven miles distant. 
Fort Henry surrendered to the gunboats, but most 
of the garrison hurried across by land to Fort Don- 


160 


Lives of the Presidents . 


elson, whose defensive force was thus increased to 
about 21,000 men, under the command of General 
Floyd. 

Grant laid siege to the strong position. The 
weather was so cold that some of his soldiers were 
frozen to death, but the siege and attack were 
pressed with vigor until the garrison were left no 
choice but to surrender. Generals Floyd and Pil¬ 
low fled with some of the forces at night, while 
General Simon Buckner remained and surrendered 
15,000 men and many cannon and small arms, on 
the 16th of February, 1862. 

This was the most important Union victory that 
had, as yet, been gained. The news caused great re¬ 
joicing in the North, and the name of Grant, the 
new leader, was on every one’s tongue. It was the 
beginning of his popularity, which steadily in¬ 
creased to the end. 

The next engagement was one of the most ter¬ 
rific battles of the whole war. On April 6, while 
waiting at Pittsburgh Landing, with 38,000 men, 
the arrival of Buell with an army of 40,000, Grant 
was furiously assailed by General Albert Sidney 
Johnston, with an army of 50,000. The attack 
was a surprise, and, though the Union troops fought 
desperately, they r/ere compelled at first to give way. 
But Johnston was killed, and Buell arrived late in the 
afternoon. Grant attacked in turn the next morn- 


Ulysses Simpson Grant . 


16 ] 


ing, and drove back Beauregard, who had succeeded 
to the command, the Confederates retreating to 
Corinth, about twenty miles distant. 

Grant’s ability led to his steady advancement. 
General Halleck, who had arrived and taken com¬ 
mand, returned to Washington, and Grant was left 
at the head of the Army of the Tennessee. This 
was on the 17th of July, 1862, and in October he 
was assigned to the command of the Department of 
the Tennessee. He proposed to Halleck soon after 
a movement looking to the capture of Vicksburg, 
where a powerful Confederate garrison held the 
Mississippi closed. 

Grant displayed splendid generalship in the 
siege of Vicksburg. He drove Pemberton with his 
large army into Vicksburg, and held him there, 
and then turned about and drove away General Jo 
Johnston, who, with another army, was striving to 
get to the help of Pemberton. Then, fastening his 
grip upon Vicksburg, he never left go until the gar¬ 
rison had to choose between surrender and starva¬ 
tion. General Pemberton surrendered on the 4th 
of July, 1863, losing 37,000 prisoners, 10,000 killed 
and wounded and an immense amount of stores. 

Grant was now among the foremost Union lead¬ 
ers. All the western armies east of the Mississippi 
were placed under him. Thus left free to form his 
own combinations and make his own movements, 


162 


Lives of the Presidents. 


“he acted with celerity and prodigious effect. Look¬ 
out Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in Tennessee, 
were captured in November by a brilliant and re¬ 
sistless assault. 

General Grant was recognized as the one man 
to restore the Union. He was summoned to Wash¬ 
ington, early in 1864. The grade of lieutenant- 
general was revived by act of Congress in Febru¬ 
ary, and President Lincoln nominated Grant for 
that office on the 1st of March, and he was con¬ 
firmed by the Senate the next day. He arrived at 
Washington on the 8th, and received his commis¬ 
sion from the President on the 9th. Henceforward 
the one master mind was to direct all the move¬ 
ments for crushing the rebellion. He established 
his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, 
on the 26th of the same month. 

Leaving Sherman to press operations in the 
southwest, terminating with his famous march to 
the sea, Grant began the last campaign against 
Lee, the hitherto invincible Confederate leader in 
the east. Backed by the confidence of the govern¬ 
ment, and furnished with all the men he needed, 
Grant pressed Lee remorselessly to the wall. The 
Confederate army steadily grew weaker, for it was 
no longer able to draw recruits from the exhausted 
South. The end came at last at Appomattox 
Court House, when Lee saw that all hope was gone 


Ulysses Simpson Grant. 


163 


and surrendered on the 9th of April, 1865, all 
that was left of the once proud army of Northern 
Virginia. 

The United States is always generous to those 
who earn its gratitude, and there were no honors 
too great to be bestowed upon General Grant. Be¬ 
fore Johnston had retired from the Presidency, 
Grant was nominated by the Republicans as his 
successor, and in the election of 1868, he received 
214 of the electoral votes, while only 80 were cast 
for Horatio Seymour, his Democratic opponent. 

His first administration saw the settlement of 
the Alabama claims, the completion of the Central 
Pacific Railway, from Omaha to San Francisco, the 
adjustment of Northwestern boundary, which was 
left to the arbitration of the Emperor of Germany, 
who decided in favor of the United States, the adop¬ 
tion of the Fifteenth Amendment, and the settlement 
of the Canadian fisheries dispute. He was re-nomi¬ 
nated in 1872, and received 286 of the 366 electoral 
votes cast. Horace Greeley was his opponent and 
died shortly after from the excitement and dis¬ 
appointment of the struggle. 

The great Chicago fire occurred in October, 1871, 
and the Centennial Exposition of 1876 was opened 
and closed by President Grant. 

After his retirement from the Presidency, March 
4, 1877, General Grant made a tour around the 


164 


Lives of the Presidents. 


world, accompanied by his wife and one of his sons. 
No man was ever received with such distinguished 
honors. On his return, he became a partner in a 
banking house and lost all his property through the 
dishonesty of his associates. He then accepted, as 
the only way of retrieving his fortune, a liberal 
offer to write his memoirs. These proved so enor¬ 
mously successful, that they netted to his family 
about half a million dollars. While engaged in 
their preparation a malignant cancer appeared at 
the root of his tongue. Amidst intense suffering, 
he persevered with his work until it was completed. 
He was removed to Mount McGregor, near Sara¬ 
toga, N. Y., and received the best of medical atten¬ 
tion, but nothing could check the terrible disease, 
and, at eight o’clock, on the morning of July 23, 
1885, he breathed his last. 

And then comes the final, the touching contrast 
of all, when the most heroic figure of the war, he 
who had faced the cannon, the musketry and the 
flame of battle and come through the fiery tempest 
unscathed, was compelled to surrender to the final 
conquerer, who, sooner or later, brings every 
head to the ground. Never did General Grant 
show a more lofty courage than when the phy¬ 
sicians told him there was no hope of prolong¬ 
ing his life, after the malignant cancer on his 
tongue had developed itself. Through the in- 


Ulysses Simpson Grant . 165 

creasing pain and suffering, he toiled at his mem¬ 
oirs, never ceasing work, hut retaining by his 
superb will, his mastery of the disease, until he had 
written the last word. 

At last his life work was finished, and, laying 
down his pen, he calmly awaited the final sum¬ 
mons which was near at hand. On the morning of 
July 23, 1885, he passed from earth. The nation 
honored him in death, as it had in life, and the 
ceremonies which marked his funeral, as well as 
the honors afterwards done him, were of the most 
impressive character. From the moment the body 
left Mount McGregor, the sorrowing multitudes 
gathered at every possible point to do homage 
to the preserver of the Union. At West Point, 
the cadets crossed the Hudson and were drawn 
up in double rank along the track, on the side 
next to the river. As the train, draped in black, 
approached, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired 
from Battery Knox. Then the cadets came to 
“present arms,” the band played a low dirge and 
the train moved slowly past. The honors were con¬ 
tinued at New York, where the body was reverently 
viewed by thousands and finally laid to rest at 
Riverside Park, there to slumber until the last 
trump— 

“Shall shake the air, the earth, the sea, 

And all the armies of the dead 
Shall hear that awful reveille. ” 





FUNERAL TRAIN OF GENERAL GRANT AT WEST POINT. 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES. 


NINETEENTH PRESIDENT.—1877-1881. 

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Dela¬ 
ware, Ohio, October 4,1822, his father having died 
about three months previous to the birth of the 
son. The mother was able to give the latter a 


good education, and he en¬ 
tered Kenyon College, at 
Gambier, in his native state, 
and v/as graduated at the 
age of twenty. He began 
the study of law’ at Colum¬ 
bus, afterward attending a 
course of law 7 lectures at Har¬ 
vard University, which were 
completed in January, 1845. 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES. 


In May following, he was admitted as attorney and 
counsellor at law in the courts of Ohio. 

Mr. Hayes located at Lower Sandusky, now 7 Fre¬ 
mont, and formed a partnership with Mr. R. P. 
Buckland, a member of Congress. His excellent 
qualifications for his profession, led him to follow 
the advice of friends and seek a larger practice, by 
removing to Cincinnati, in the winter of 1849-50. 
He formed the acquaintance of the most prominent 
citizens, some of whom were already among the 



168 


Lives of the Presidents . 


political leaders of the country. In December, 
1852, he was married to Miss Lucy W. Webb, of 
Chillicothe. Four years later he declined a nomi¬ 
nation for the office of Judge of Common Pleas. 

Mr. Hayes was so firmly established in the good 
opinion of the citizens by this time, that, after 
being appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of the city solicitor, he was elected to the 
office by a large popular vote, though in the fol¬ 
lowing election, he suffered defeat with all of the 
Whig ticket. 

He allied himself with the Republican party 
upon its formation, and gave much help in the elec¬ 
tion of Abraham Lincoln. At a great war meet¬ 
ing held in Cincinnati, when the news of the bom¬ 
bardment of Fort Sumter was received, Mr. Hayes 
was chairman of the committee on resolutions and 
gave expression in ringing words to the sentiments 
of the aroused people. Volunteering was rapid, 
and he was. made captain of one of the first com¬ 
panies formed. 

In June, the governor of the State appointed him 
major of the Twenty-third regiment, which was 
sent into West Virginia. General Rosecrans made 
him Judge Advocate of the Department of Ohio. 
A few months afterwards he was appointed lieuten¬ 
ant-colonel and bore a conspicuous part in the bat¬ 
tle of South Mountain on the 24th of September, 


Rutherford Birchard Hayes. 169 

1862. While leading a charge, he was shot in the 
arm, but kept his place at the head of his men un¬ 
til he had to be carried from the field. His regi¬ 
ment was nearly cut to pieces. He returned home 
after being promoted to a colonelcy, and stayed 
there until he recovered from his wounds, taking the 
field again as soon as the surgeons would permit. 

John Morgan, the Confederate raider, invaded 
Ohio in the summer of 1863. By his own request, 
Colonel Hayes, at the head of a considerable force, 
was detached from the army in southwestern Vir¬ 
ginia and sent after Morgan. By the vigor and 
promptness of his movements, Colonel Hayes great¬ 
ly aided in preventing the enemy from recrossing 
the Ohio and in compelling them to surrender. 

Colonel Hayes showed great activity and good 
judgment in his military career. He had com¬ 
mand of a brigade in the spring of 1864, and joined 
with Colonel Mulligan, the hero of Lexington, at the 
first battle of Winchester (July 24, 1864), in charge 
ing a greatly superior force of the enemy. Mulli¬ 
gan was killed, but Hayes, when about to be over¬ 
whelmed, conducted a skillful retreat, safely brought 
off his command, and, reaching a strong position, 
turned and checked the pursuit of the enemy. 

The most brilliant exploit of Colonel Hayes was 
performed at the second battle of Winchester, Sep¬ 
tember 19, 1864. He was leading an impetuous 


170 


Lives of the Presidents. 


charge against a battery upon an elevation, when 
he suddenly came upon a morass more than a hun¬ 
dred feet in width. Without hesitation, he spurred 
his horse into it, but the animal immediately be¬ 
came mired. Slipping from the saddle, Colonel 
Hayes labored through, all the time under the fire 
of the enemy, and stepped out alone upon the 
further bank. He beckoned his men to join him, 
and, inspired by his example, they plunged into 
the marsh and struggled across. 

He waited until less than fifty men were over, 
when he rushed up the slope, charged the bat¬ 
tery, and captured it after a brief, hand-to-hand 
struggle. The exploit was one of the most heroic 
of the campaign and roused the admiration of the 
veterans who saw it. The Confederate battery’s 
position had been considered so secure that it was 
not thought necessary to give it infantry supports. 

The battle of Cedar Creek was fought October 
19, 1864. The services of Colonel Hayes were so 
conspicuous, that his commander grasped his hand 
on the battle-field and thanked him, adding that 
he had won the star of a brigadier. The commis¬ 
sion arrived a few days later, and, in March, 1865, 
he was breveted major-general “for gallant and 
distinguished services during the campaign of 1864 
in West Virginia, and particularly at the battles of 
Fisher’s Hill and Cedar Creek, Va.” 


Rutherford Birchard Hayes. 


171 


While engaged in the field, General Hayes was 
nominated for Congress, in August, 1864. He was 
advised to obtain a furlough and return home to 
help in the political campaign, but he refused, with 
the remark that an officer who could so far forget 
his highest duty to his country, was lacking in 
patriotism. Fortunately his presence in Ohio was 
not needed, for he was elected by more than two 
thousand majority. The war having ended, he 
took his seat in Congress in December, 1865. 

General Hayes acted with his party during the 
reconstruction difficulties, and, having been re¬ 
elected, supported the impeachment of President 
Johnson. He did not become a prominent debater, 
but proved that he thoroughly understood legisla¬ 
tion, had the courage of his convictions and pos¬ 
sessed sound judgment. 

In June, 1867, he was nominated for governor by 
the Republicans of Ohio, his opponent being the 
Democratic “war horse,” Judge Allen G. Thurman. 
The canvas was a vigorous one, but Hayes was 
successful, though the Democrats secured the legis¬ 
lature and sent Judge Thurman to the United 
States Senate. 

Governor Hayes’ administration was so satisfac¬ 
tory that no one contested his second nomination, 
which was made in June, 1869. He was re-elected 
by more than 7,000 majority. His course was so 


172 


Lives of the Presidents . 


honest and successful that at its close, Governor 
Hayes received warm commendation from many of 
his political opponents. 

It was now his desire to retire from politics and 
give his attention to his profession. Against his 
wishes, he was renominated for Congress in the 
summer of 1872. He accepted and labored hard in 
the canvas, but the Republican tide was ebbing, 
and he suffered defeat with the rest of the ticket. 
President Grant offered him the place of assistant 
treasurer of the United States, but Hayes declined 
it, and made his home at Fremont, Ohio, with the 
intention of taking no further part in public affairs. 

Despite his feelings, however, he was nominated 
again for the governorship in 1875, the Republicans 
deeming it necessary to put forward their strongest 
candidate against the Democratic opponent, who 
had served one term and was very popular. Dur¬ 
ing the campaign, Hayes declared in favor of “hon¬ 
est money,” as the term goes, as against the Dem¬ 
ocratic platform, which insisted that the volume of 
currency should be kept equal to the wants of 
trade; that the national bank currency should be 
retired and greenbacks issued in its stead, and that at 
least one-half of the customs duties should be ac¬ 
cepted in paper money by the government. A good 
many Republicans favored this view, but, in face 
of the fact, Governor Hayes was re-elected for the 


Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 173 

second time, securing a majority of 5,500. 

The popular strength of General Hayes and his 
well-known views on the currency question, caused 
his nomination by the National Republican con¬ 
vention at Cincinnati, in June, 1876. He was a 
strong candidate from the first and won on the sev¬ 
enth ballot. His opponent in the subsequent can¬ 
vas was Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. 

The remaining few months saw one of the most 
extraordinary contests in the history of our coun¬ 
try. In some respects it was the severest strain to 
which the Republic has ever been subjected. Al¬ 
though the masses did not comprehend the great 
peril of the nation ; thoughtful persons feared and 
trembled. 

It was found when the returns were counted, 
that, outside of Florida and Louisiana, Hayes and 
Tilden had received the same number of electoral 
votes, and both parties claimed to have carried 
those two States. On account of the disturbances 
in the reconstructed States, they had “returning 
boards” generally of five men each, whose duty it 
was to investigate the vote of their respective States 
and throw out such as were the result of fraud. 
The Democrats had a majority of the votes cast in 
Florida and Louisiana, but after the alleged fraud¬ 
ulent vote was rejected, the Republicans were in 
the majority. The Democrats protested against 


174 


Lives of the Presidents . 


this action as illegal, and the Republicans defended 
it on the ground that it was the only way to pre* 
vent fraud from becoming successful. 

It was the province of Congress to decide con* 
tested election cases, but the Democrats were in a 
majority in the House, while the Republicans con¬ 
trolled the Senate. The two branches would never 
agree as to Florida and Louisiana, and civil war 
impended. 

The crisis was ended by an agreement of the 
moderate men of each party to form an Electoral 
Commission to decide the dispute. This commis¬ 
sion was to be composed of five Judges of the Su¬ 
preme Court, five Senators and five Representatives. 
The intention was that seven should be Republi¬ 
cans, seven Democrats, while the odd member 
should not be affiliated with either party. This 
fifteenth member—Judge Davis—was nominated 
for another office, and Judge Bradley, of New Jer¬ 
sey, a pronounced Republican, took his place. This 
made the Commission to consist of eight Repub¬ 
licans and seven Democrats, and by that vote, it 
gave 185 electoral votes to Mr. Hayes and 184 to 
Mr. Tilden, the result being announced March 3, 
1877. 

The administration of President Hayes was com¬ 
paratively quiet and uneventful. In the summer 
of 1877, the country was disturbed by a general 


Rutherford Birchard Hayes . 175 

railroad strike, and there was violent rioting in 
Pittsburg, Chicago, St. Louis and other places. 
Government resumed specie payments January 1, 
1879, and the public debt was reduced to about 
$ 2 , 000 , 000 , 000 . 

At the conclusion of his term, ex-President Hayes 
retired to his home at Fremont, Ohio, where he 
died, after a brief illness, January 17, 1893. 


JAHES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

TWENTIETH PRESIDENT—1881. 

James Abram Garfield was born in Orange, Cuy- 
hoga county, Ohio, November 19,1831. His father, 
of the same name, had moved there from New 
York, the year before the birth of James, who was 
the youngest of four chil¬ 
dren. The father died soon 
afterward, and the mother, 
with heroic self-sacrifice, de¬ 
voted herself to the care and 
education of her children, 

When still very young, 

James was sent to the near¬ 
est school, and was an apt 
pupil. At the same time, 
he worked hard on the small farm and gave his 

mother all the aid he could. He kept up his 

studies and eagerly read every book within reach, 
so that, while still in the beginning of his teens, 
his mind was well stored with knowledge. 

Like many American youths, the boy was fasci¬ 
nated by the prospect of adventure in the life of a 
sailor. He went to Cleveland in 1848, intending 
to sail on one of the lake schooners, but when he 
came to look into the plan, he concluded that 



JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 






James Abram Garfield. 


177 


there was more hard work and privation than ro¬ 
mance in the project, and he decided to go home. 

Naturally, however, he was ashamed to appear 
among his friends with the confession that his 
courage had failed him, and that, like the Prodigal 
Son, he had come back, hungry and penniless. So 
he hired out as a driver of mules on the tow path 
of the Ohio Canal, doing so well that he was soon 
promoted to a place on the deck of the lumbering 
boat. How inspiring the facts, that one of our 
Presidents in his youth was an ignorant tailor’s 
apprentice, another a rail-splitter, and a third a 
driver on a tow path! Young Garfield was thrown 
among a rough, boisterous set, but he was an un¬ 
usual athlete, active, powerful and able to hold 
his own against any and all of his associates. So, 
when he turned up at his boyhood home, he had 
some money in his pocket and was none the worse 
for his experience. 

Determined to obtain an education, he attended 
the academy at Chester, some miles distant from 
his home, teaching school, working at carpentry 
and doing anything that would help to pay his ex¬ 
penses. The bully of the school became so un¬ 
bearable, that Garfield flung off his coat and, to the 
delight of the other students, thrashed him until 
he bellowed for mercy. 

Garfield was naturally of a religious tempera- 


178 


Lives of the Presidents . 


ment, and, some time after this episode, was con¬ 
verted and received into the Campbellite Church. 
He completed his studies at Chester in 1851, and 
entered Hiram College, the leading institution of 
the Campbellites. He was a hard student and was 
conspicuous at the meetings for debate, and at the 
devotional exercises. He obtained enough income 
through teaching the English and ancient lan¬ 
guage departments to defray his expenses. When 
prepared to enter one of the more advanced eastern 
colleges, he went to Williams in 1854, and, upon 
graduation, received the highest honors of his class. 

He had completed his college course in three 
years, and, returning to Ohio, in 1856, he taught 
Latin and Greek in Hiram College, for a year, when 
he was chosen president of the college. He was 
broad-minded, profound in learning, cheerful in 
spirit and highly popular with the students. He 
had a personal magnetism which drew them toward 
him, and he had, too, the gift of imparting instruc¬ 
tion to others. He often preached, and, but for the 
change which soon came in his life, would have 
reached the highest prominence as an instructor. 

Garfield felt little interest in politics until the 
organization of the Republican party, when he 
embraced its principles. In 1859, he was chosen 
to the State Senate, where he took a conspicuous 
part in legislation. He already saw that civil war 


James Abram Garfield. 


179 


was coming, and he gave much attention and study 
to the militia system of the State. 

When the war cloud burst, he was ready to 
“gird on his armor” and advance to the conflict. 
He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 
Forty-Second regiment of volunteers, in August, 
1861, and persuaded many of his old pupils to en¬ 
list. He soon became Colonel and drilled his regi¬ 
ment to a high degree of proficiency. At the close 
of the year, he reported to General Buell, who was 
then in Louisville, Ky. That grim old soldier was 
so impressed by the military bearing and knowl¬ 
edge of Garfield that he placed him in command 
of a brigade. 

The strongest proof of Buell’s confidence in Gar¬ 
field was his assignment to him of the task of driv¬ 
ing Humphrey Marshall out of eastern Kentucky. 
Garfield had only half as many men as the Confed¬ 
erate commander, with which he was obliged to 
march a long way through a hostile country, and 
form his own plans and combinations. He accom¬ 
plished the work with brilliant success, and, aided 
by others, the Confederates were soon expelled from 
the section. Congress acknowledged his work by 
making him a brigadier general, his commission 
bearing date January 20, 1862, that of his princi¬ 
pal engagement at Middle Creek. 

He was assigned to the command of the Twen- 


180 


Lives of the Presidents . 


tieth Brigade, and took part on the second day’s 
battle at Pittsburg Landing. Some time later, he 
was prostrated by serious illness, which kept him 
at home a number of weeks before he was able to 
return to his command. When he did so, General 
Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cum¬ 
berland, made him his chief-of-staff. An instance 
is related of Garfield’s great influence and skill in 
logic. Before the terrific battle of Chickamauga, 
General Rosecrans asked for the written opinions 
of seventeen of his generals upon the advisability 
of making an immediate advance. Sixteen opposed 
it, but Garfield’s arguments in favor of the advance 
were so irrefutable that Rosecrans determined to 
.act upon his advice. 

Chickamauga was one of the most tremendous 
struggles of the war, and was a Confederate vic¬ 
tory. All the orders were written out by Garfield 
except one, and to that omission was due the fatal 
blunder. It was General George H. Thomas, the 
“Rock of Chickamauga,” who saved the Union 
army from being “ground to powder.” He held 
the left of the line, against which the Confederates 
hurled themselves again and again, with a courage 
born of desperation. Everywhere else the Union 
troops were swept from the field, but Thomas stood 
as immovable as a wall of granite and flung back 
his assailants with a dauntless valor that has never 


181 


James Abram Garfield. 

been surpassed. Rosecrans, believing everything 
was lost, galloped off to Chattanooga and tele¬ 
graphed the astounding news to Washington. 

To prevent the entire destruction of the army, it 
was necessary to carry the news of the stampede of 
the right to Thomas. Garfield volunteered to make 
the perilous ride through the tempest of bullets, 
and he accomplished it at the imminent risk of his 
life. Had he fallen and the news failed to reach 
Thomas, nothing could have saved the army from 
annihilation. 

Garfield’s invaluable services were rewarded 
with the commission of a major-general. No future 
could have been more promising, and had he re¬ 
mained in the field, there is little doubt that he 
would have become one of the foremost leaders of 
the war. It was his ardent wish to stay there un¬ 
til the end, but President Lincoln felt the need of 
his great ability and stanch patriotism in Congress, 
for it was as necessary to hold up the hands of the 
government in that body, as it was on the field of 
battle. The President was so urgent, that Garfield 
did not feel at liberty to refuse him. Accordingly, 
he resigned his commission, when on the threshold 
of great things, and took his seat in the Congress 
to which he had been elected more than a year be¬ 
fore. 

Meanwhile, General Thomas had been made 


182 Lives of the Presidents. 

commander of the Army of the Cumberland, and 
he asked Garfield to assume charge of a division. 
He wished to do so, but again the President so 
earnestly interposed, that he remained in Washing¬ 
ton. The most important committee was that on 
military affairs, upon which he was placed, and in 
all other matters brought under consideration, he 
displayed sound judgment and perfect mastery of 
the subject. He was a member of the Electoral 
Commission of 1877, and in 1880 was elected a 
United States Senator from Ohio. 

At the national Republican convention in Chi¬ 
cago, in June, 1880, Garfield labored untiringly 
against the attempted re-nomination of General 
Grant for a third term, which he, with many others, 
insisted would be a calamity to the nation. Nothing 
thereby was implied against Grant himself, but it 
was the election of any person to a longer service 
than that of Washington that was dreaded. Gar¬ 
field supported John Sherman, whom he placed in 
nomination. 

The prolonged struggle made it clear that neither 
Grant nor Sherman could secure the prize. Then 
a rush was made for Garfield, and he was nomi¬ 
nated on the thirty-sixth ballot. 

In the election, he defeated General Winfield 
Scott Hancock, the electoral vote standing 214 to 
155. Garfield chose an able Cabinet, the only un- 


James Abram Garfield. 


183 


pleasantness being with Senator Roscoe Conkling, 
of New York, an able but overbearing man, who 
became offended at the independence of the Presi¬ 
dent in making a number of appointments for the 
State of New York, and resigned his seat in the 
Senate. Afterward he vainly sought a re-election. 

On the 2d of July, 1881, the President, accom¬ 
panied by his Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, 
went to the station of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail¬ 
way in Washington, to take the train for New 
England. While the President was chatting with 
Mr. Blaine, a half-crazy miscreant named Guiteau 
slipped up behind him and fired a pistol bullet into 
his body. The President sank to the floor and was 
carried in a carriage to the White House, while 
his assassin was hurried off to jail to protect him 
from the fury of the people, who thronged to the 
spot upon hearing of the frightful crime. 

The best medical service was given to the Presi¬ 
dent. There was hope that his rugged constitu¬ 
tion would save him, and countless thousands of 
prayers were offered up in this country and across 
the sea for his recovery. On the 6th of Septem¬ 
ber, he was removed to the sea shore at Elberon, 
New Jersey, under the belief that the sea air would 
benefit him. He rallied at first, but soon began 
to sink, and, on the 19th of September, peacefully 
passed away. His remains lie under an imposing 


184 


Lives of the Presidents. 


monument in the cemetery on the shore of Lake 
Erie, at Cleveland. 

General Garfield was married to Miss Lucretia 
Rudolph, at Hudson, Ohio, in 1858. 


CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. 

TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT.—1881-1884. 

Chester Alan Arthur was born in Fairfield, 
Franklin county, Vermont, October 5, 1830, and 
was the son of Rev. William Arthur. There were 
three sons and six daughters, Chester Alan being 
the eldest of the sons. He 
was prepared for college at 
Union Village and at Sche¬ 
nectady, and, in 1845, be¬ 
came a member of the so¬ 
phomore class at Union 
College, and was graduated 
at the age of eighteen. 

Having decided upon the 
study of law, Arthur at¬ 
tended a law school at Ballston Spa, and continued 
his legal studies at Lansingburg, where his father 
lived. He earned an income by preparing boys 
for college, and, in 1851, was appointed principal 
of an academy at North Pownal, Vermont. It is 
worth noting that it was in this academy that 
James A. Garfield afterward taught penmanship, 
during the winter vacation, while he was in atten¬ 
dance at Williams College. 







186 


Lives of the Presidents. 


By economy, young Arthur saved several hun¬ 
dred dollars, and, in 1853, went to New York City, 
and became a law student in the office of E. D. 
Culver. He was admitted to the bar in the same 
year, and became a member of the firm. He was 
strongly anti-slavery in his sentiments, his father 
having been an earnest abolitionist. In 1855, a 
woman, while on her way home from her Sunday- 
school, was ejected from a car on the Fourth Ave¬ 
nue line, on account of her color. Mr. Arthur’s 
firm brought suit against the company in the Su¬ 
preme Court in Brooklyn, recovered a judgment 
and established the right of colored people to ride 
in the street cars. 

Mr. Arthur was active in the first State Republi¬ 
can convention which was held at Saratoga, and 
worked hard to bring about the election of John 
C. Fremont, in 1856. Governor Edwin D. Morgan 
appointed Mr. Arthur, January 1, 1861, on his 
staff as engineer-in-chief, with the rank of brigadier- 
general. The civil war began soon after, and Mr. 
Arthur became acting quartermaster-general, whose 
duty it was to prepare and forward the State’s quota 
of troops. The enormous number of men sent to 
the front from the Empire State, aggregating nearly 
half a million by the close of the war, made the 
position one of tremendous labor and responsibility, 
and the officer who held the place even for a few 


Chester Alan Arthur . 


187 


weeks had little time for vacation or leisure. Gen¬ 
eral Arthur’s term ended with that of Governor 
Morgan, December 31, 1862. The successor of 
General Arthur in his first report said: “I found, on 
entering on the discharge of my duties, a well or¬ 
ganized system of labor and accountability, for 
which the State is chiefly indebted to my predeces¬ 
sor, General Chester A. Arthur, who by his practical 
good sense and unremitting exertion, at a period 
whet; everything was in confusion, reduced the 
operations of the department to a matured plan, by 
which large amounts of money were saved by the 
government, and great economy of time secured in 
carrying out the details of the same.” 

Mr. Arthur resumed the practice of his profes¬ 
sion, but retained his interest in politics. Presi¬ 
dent Grant, in 1871, appointed him to the lucrative 
office of collector of the port of New York. He 
filled the place with integrity and ability, but, ow¬ 
ing to factional disturbances among the Repub¬ 
licans of the State, President Hayes decided to 
remove him. After much delay and wrangling, 
his successor was confirmed by the Senate in Feb¬ 
ruary, 1879, and again Mr. Arthur returned to the 
practice of his profession. 

Mr. Arthur was among the most active in the 
vain effort to bring about the re-nomination of Gen¬ 
eral Grant for a third term. The final result, as 


188 


Lives of the Presidents . 


we have learned, was the nomination of General 
Garfield, who was assassinated July 2, 1881, dying 
on the 19th of the following September. Vice- 
President Arthur was in the city of New York at 
the time, and received the announcement from the 
Cabinet, who advised him to take the oath of office 
at once. He did so at his residence, and, upon 
reaching Washington, it was formally administered 
to him by Chief Justice Waite. The inaugural 
which he delivered is worthy of being recorded. 

“For the fourth time,” he said, “in the history 
of the republic its chief magistrate has been re¬ 
moved by death. All hearts are filled with grief 
and horror at the hideous crime which has dark¬ 
ened our land; and the memory of the murdered 
President, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding 
fortitude, the example and achievements of his 
life and the pathos of his death will forever illu¬ 
mine the pages of our history. For the fourth 
time the officer elected by the people and ordained 
by the Constitution to fill a vacancy so created is 
called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom 
of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possi¬ 
bilities, made sure that the government should 
never be imperilled because of the uncertainty of 
human life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our 
free institutions remain unshaken. No higher or 
more assuring proof could exist of the strength 


Chester Alan Arthur. 


189 


and permanence of popular government than the 
fact that, though the chosen of the people be struck 
down, his constitutional successor is peacefully in¬ 
stalled without shock or strain, except the sorrow 
which mourns the bereavement. All the noble 
aspirations of my lamented predecessor, which 
found expression in his life, the measures devised 
and suggested during his brief administration to 
correct abuses and enforce economy, to advance 
prosperity and promote the general welfare, to en¬ 
sure domestic security and maintain friendly and 
honorable relations with the nations of the earth, 
will be garnered in the hearts of the people, and it 
will be my earnest endeavor to profit and to see 
that the nation shall profit by his example and ex¬ 
perience. Prosperity blesses our country, our fiscal 
policy is fixed by law, is well grounded and gener¬ 
ally approved. No threatening issue mars our 
foreign intercourse, and the wisdom, integrity and 
thrift of our people may be trusted to continue un¬ 
disturbed the present assured career of peace, tran¬ 
quillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety 
which have enshrouded the country must make re¬ 
pose especially welcome now. No demand for 
speedy legislation has been heard; no adequate 
occasion is apparent for an unusual session of Con¬ 
gress. The Constitution defines the functions and 
powers of the executive as clearly as either of the 


190 


Lives of the Presidents . 


other two departments of the government, and he 
must answer for the just exercise of the discretion 
which it permits and the performance of the duties 
which it imposes. Summoned to these high duties 
and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of 
their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust 
imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on 
divine guidance and the virtue, patriotism, and the 
intelligence of the American people.” 

The country was highly prosperous during the 
administration of Arthur. The effects of the panic 
of 1873 had passed away, and agriculture and man¬ 
ufactures were in a flourishing condition. The 
public debt had been paid so far as the creditors 
would allow it to be paid. That is to say, the 
persons who held the bonds preferred to keep them 
where they were sure of receiving both interest 
and principal. Thus it was that the government 
found that it had more money than it could use 
and began to take measures to reduce taxes. 

The South seemed to be rising from its ashes. 
Northern capitalists took advantage of the many 
favorable openings for profitable enterprise, and 
free labor was found to be more profitable than 
slave labor. Crops were abundant, new railway 
lines were being built, and manufactures were 
begun where a brief while before such innovations 
were not deemed possible. 


Chester Alan Arthur . 


191 


For six or eight years, the country had been 
kept busy celebrating the centennial anniversaries 
connected with the Revolution. The grand finale 
took place at Yorktown, where, on the 19th of 
October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his 
army to the American and French allies. The 
governors and leading citizens present on the field 
a hundred years afterwards would have made an 
army of themselves, while representatives came 
from France and Germany. Even Great Britain, 
that had suffered so disastrous a defeat a century 
before, showed her good will by sending represent¬ 
atives and President Arthur performed an exqui¬ 
sitely courteous act, when, at the close of the cele¬ 
bration, the British flag was raised and all the 
vessels and soldiers present fired a salute in its 
honor. 

There was a great deal of important legislation 
during President Arthur’s term. One measure 
was the reduction of letter postage, March 3, 1883, 
from three cents to two cents per ounce, while the 
fast mail and free delivery systems were largely 
extended, and the money order system was intro¬ 
duced. 

The President was present as the guest of the 
city of Boston at the celebration of the Webster 
Historical Society at Marshfield, Mass., and made 
short addresses in Faneuil Hall and at Marshfield, 


192 


Lives of the Presidents . 


in October, 1882. He was present at the opening 
of the Southern Exposition at Louisville, making 
an address on the 2d of August, 1882, and he gave 
much assistance to the World’s Industrial and Cot¬ 
ton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans, which 
was opened on December 16, 1884. He touched 
the button in the executive office, at Washington, 
which formed the electric connection that set the 
machinery in motion. 

President Arthur’s name was presented to the 
National Republican convention, which met in 
Chicago, June 3, 1884, and he received a good sup¬ 
port at the beginning. The nomination, however, 
went to James G. Blaine. Arthur immediately 
telegraphed his best wishes and pledged to do all 
he could to secure his election. He carried out 
this pledge in spirit and letter in the vigorous can¬ 
vas which followed. The same convention declared 
that “in the administration of President Arthur 
we recognize a wise, conservative and patriotic 
policy, under which the country has been blessed 
with remarkable prosperity, and we believe his 
eminent services are entitled to and will receive 
the hearty approval of every citizen.” 

Mr. Arthur became a lawyer once more in the 
metropolis of the country upon his retirement from 
the Presidency. He was married in October, 1859, 
to Miss Ellen Lewis Herndon, of Fredericksburg, 


Chester Alan Arthur. 


193 


Va. They had three children. The first child died 
in infancy and the wife died in January, 1880. 

Ex-President Arthur yielded unexpectedly to an 
attack of apoplexy, and died at his residence, 123 
Lexington Avenue, November 18, 1886. The fu¬ 
neral services were attended by President Cleve¬ 
land and his Cabinet, Chief Justice Waite, ex- 
President Hayes, James G. Blaine, Generals Sher¬ 
man, Sheridan and Schofield, and the surviving, 
members of President Arthur’s Cabinet. His re¬ 
mains rest beside those of his wife in the family 
burial place in Rural Cemetery, in Albany, N. Y, 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 

TWENTY-SECOND AND TWENTY-FOURTH PRESIDENT, 

1885-1889; 1893-1897. , 

Grover Cleveland was born in the village of 
Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., March 18,1837, and 
was the son of Richard Falley Cleveland, a noted 
Presbyterian minister. The boy was named Stephen 
Grover, in honor of the cler¬ 
gyman who preceded Rev. 
Mr. Cleveland at Caldwell, 
but the first name was drop¬ 
ped after a brief time. 

In 1841, the father ac¬ 
cepted a call to Fayetteville, 
near Syracuse, N. Y., where 
Grover attended the acad¬ 
emy for a number of years, 
and then served for a time as clerk in a country 
store. A second removal of the family took place 
to Clinton, Oneida County, where Grover was a 
student in another academy. At the age of six¬ 
teen, he was made a clerk and assistant teacher in 
the New York Institution for the Blind, in which 
an older brother, later a Presbyterian minister, 
was a teacher. 

Grover was not satisfied with his prospects and 
decided to adopt the oft repeated advice of Horace 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 







Grover Cleveland . 


195 


Greeley and go West. He left his home in 1855, 
and reaching Black Rock, now a part of Buffalo, 
called upon his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, who was 
engaged in compiling a work in several volumes 
called the “American Herd Book.” He offered to 
pay his nephew to help him, and the latter spent 
several weeks at the work. By that time, Grover 
became convinced that it would be wise for him 
to go no further toward the setting sun, and he 
obtained a situation as clerk and copyist with the 
law firm of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers. His pay 
was moderate, but sufficient for his wants, and he 
began the study of law, which he industriously 
followed until his admission to the bar in 1859. 
He remained with the firm for three years, his 
compensation being considerably increased. Like 
an affectionate son, he looked after his widowed 
mother and saw that she lacked nothing in the 
way of comfort and attention, up to her death, 
which took place in 1882. 

Mr. Cleveland was well grounded in law and 
possessed the confidence of his acquaintances and 
of the citizens. He was appointed assistant district 
attorney of Erie county at the beginning of 1863, 
and retained the position for three years, when he 
became the Democratic candidate for district at¬ 
torney, but was beaten by his Republican oppo¬ 
nent and close friend, Lyman K. Bass. Cleveland 


196 


Lives of the Presidents . 


formed another law partnership, his business rap¬ 
idly increasing, until 1870, when he was elected 
sheriff of Erie county for a term of three years. 
Upon its conclusion, he formed a partnership with 
his friend and former political conqueror, Lyman 
K. Bass. At first, the firm was Bass, Cleveland 
& Bissell, but ill health soon caused the retire¬ 
ment of Mr. Bass. The firm was one of the most 
successful in western New York. 

The first real political triumph of Mr. Cleveland 
came in 1881, when he was elected mayor of Buf¬ 
falo, by the largest majority ever given in the 
city. This was due to the support of the Inde¬ 
pendents and Republicans, who accepted him as 
the reform candidate, for which there was a gen¬ 
eral call, after the dissatisfaction with his prede¬ 
cessors in office. 

Mr. Cleveland assumed office January 1 , 1882, 
• and met the high expectations formed of him. He 
was alert, honest and fearless in the discharge of 
his duty, and so curbed the extravagant expendi¬ 
ture of public money, that it was claimed he saved 
$1,000,000 to the city in less than a year. No 
mayor ever made so merciless a use of his veto 
power, and, as may be supposed, all upright citi¬ 
zens were delighted with his work. 

His excellent conduct of the office, drew public 
attention to him. At the Democratic State con- 


Grover Cleveland . 


197 


vention, held in Syracuse, in September, 1882, he 
was put forward as a candidate for the gubernato¬ 
rial nomination, and was successful on the third 
ballot. His Republican opponent was Charles J. 
Folger, then Secretary of the United States Treas¬ 
ury. There was nothing to be said against the 
personal character of either candidate, but Folger 
was considered by many to be the representative of 
what is known in politics as the “machine.” Mr. 
Cleveland’s course while mayor commanded the 
confidence of the State. Many Republicans voted 
for him, while thousands of others refused to sup¬ 
port Folger. The result was a Democratic victory 
of astounding proportions. In a total vote of 918,- 
894, Mr. Cleveland received a plurality of 192,854 
over Folger, while his majority over all, among 
which were the prohibition, greenback and scatter¬ 
ing votes, was 151,742. 

This vote was so stupendous that it attracted the 
attention of the whole country, and made Governor 
Cleveland a Presidential “probability.” He began 
to be discussed by the leading papers and his ad¬ 
ministration was closely watched. It was so satis¬ 
factory that he became the most prominent candi¬ 
date of his party, long before the meeting of the 
national convention at Chicago in July, 1884. But 
other gentlemen had strong supporters, and three 
days were occupied in organizing, forming a plat- 


198 Lives of the Presidents . 

form and presenting the claims of the various per¬ 
sons. On the first ballot, Mr. Cleveland received 
nearly one-half of the votes cast, but a two-thirds 
vote was necessary, and on the following ballot he 
had more than that, quickly followed by a stam¬ 
pede and the making of his vote unanimous. 

The campaign which followed was a remarkable 
one. His Republican competitor was the brilliant 
James G. Blaine, who had a devoted and enthusi¬ 
astic following, beside which the labor and green¬ 
back ticket was headed by General Benjamin F. 
Butler, and the prohibition ticket by John P. St. 
John. Mr. Cleveland barely succeeded in carrying 
the State of New York, but slender as was his 
popular majority, it gave him the 36 electoral 
votes and made him President of the United States. 
There were 410 electoral votes cast, of which he 
received 219, and Blaine 182. Thus Buffalo is the 
only city in the United States which has furnished 
two Presidents. 

President Cleveland made the same severe use of 
the veto power as when mayor, and devoted his 
energies to the best interests, as he believed them 
to be, of the nation. In one respect, he disap¬ 
pointed everybody, the disappointment, as a rule, 
being highly agreeable. During the canvas he 
announced himself as opposed to removals from 
office, except for cause. He did not believe that 


Grover Cleveland . 


199 


any person should be appointed to a place, because 
he belonged to the President’s party, nor that any 
one should be removed for the reason that he was 
a Republican. In other words, he favored “civil 
service reform.” Other Presidential candidates had 
made the same profession, only to find themselves 
compelled to yield to the clamor of office-seekers, 
but Mr. Cleveland remained firm in the position 
he had taken, thereby offending some of those that 
had been his supporters, but, none the less, he 
added to the dignity and effectiveness of his admin¬ 
istration. 

He also became known as the friend of hard 
money and especially of tariff reform, which he 
urged in his famous message to Congress in De¬ 
cember, 1887. Probably the most popular act of 
his first administration was his marriage to Miss 
Frances Folsom, which took place on Wednesday, 
June 2, 1886. The whole nation showed a pleas¬ 
ing interest in this event, and Mrs. Cleveland 
proved to be one of the most accomplished and 
popular mistresses that ever presided at the White 
House. To Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland were born 
four children, three girls and one boy, making a 
happy and much respected family. 

Mr. Cleveland was unanimously re-nominated by 
the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, 
in June, 1888. His message of December, 1887, 


200 


Lives of the Presidents . 


was devoted to the one subject of the necessity for 
a reduction of the tariff, and this was made the 
issue of the campaign. The Republicans, under 
the leadership of Benjamin Harrison, were in favor 
of protection, and, therefore, of a high tariff. On 
the popular vote Cleveland had a majority of 100,- 
000, but his electoral vote was 168, while Harrison 
received 233, due to the fact that he carried New 
York and Indiana, looked upon as doubtful and 
decisive States. 

Mr. Cleveland resumed the practice of his pro¬ 
fession in the city of New York at the close of his 
term, but the question of tariff reform was still the 
great issue before the country, and brought him 
forward again as the most prominent Democratic 
candidate as President Harrison’s term grew to a 
close. Other leaders were persistently pressed to 
the front, but at the national convention held in 
Chicago in June, 1892, more than two-thirds of the 
delegates voted for Cleveland on the first ballot. 
Again, tariff reform was the leading issue, and 
again he was confronted by his late conqueror, 
Benjamin Harrison, but this time the Democratic 
victory was more pronounced than had been its 
defeat four years before. In the electoral college,, 
the candidate of the “People’s party” received 23, 
Harrison 145, and Cleveland 276 votes. Mr. Cleve¬ 
land’s inauguration followed, March 4, 1893, and 


Grover Cleveland . 


201 


forms the only instance in our history of the re- 
election of a President after his retirement from 
the Presidency. 

The Senate promptly confirmed the nominations 
for his Cabinet, and he addressed himself to his 
new duties with the vigor and conscientiousness 
he always displayed in the discharge of his public 
services. One of the most difficult questions was 
that concerning the Hawaiian Islands. A treaty 
for the annexation of these islands to the United 
States had been concluded February 14, 1893, be¬ 
tween President Harrison and commissioners rep¬ 
resenting a provisional government, and had been 
sent to the Senate, but was not yet acted upon. 
Doubts as to the status of the new government led 
President Cleveland to oppose the annexation of 
the islands. They were by their own choice annexed 
to the United States July 7, 1898, and the territory 
of Hawaii was created June 14, 1900. 

A wide-spread and distressing business depres¬ 
sion induced President Cleveland to convene Con¬ 
gress in special session, on the 8th of August, 1893. 
After a prolonged debate, the provisions of the law 
of July 14, 1890, known as the “Sherman Act,” 
were, through the firmness of the President, re¬ 
pealed on the 1st of the following November. 
Among other interesting matters of Cleveland’s 
second administration were the great railroad strike 


202 


Lives of the Presidents . 


of 1894, and the holding of the Columbian Exposi¬ 
tion or World’s Fair at Chicago, in 1893, which 
was kept open for six months and was attended by 
more than twenty million visitors. 

Mr. Cleveland continued to live in dignified re¬ 
tirement at Princeton till the time of his death, 
June 24, 1908. His death brought to an end 
the life of one who had been for more than seven 
years the only living ex-President, and who had 
also been during the administration of Benjamin 
Harrison the only living ex-President. 

As a result of a long personal acquaintance one 
of his friends has said that two of Mr. Cleveland’s 
prominent characteristics were, first, his keen 
perception of the weaknesses and limitations of 
human nature combined with a firm faith in the 
ultimate triumph of its nobler qualities; and, 
second, his attitude toward the law, not that he 
wanted overmuch of it but that he wanted it to 
be profoundly respected and fearlessly enforced. 
This same friend has expressed the conviction 
that Mr. Cleveland’s greatness did not consist in 
the possession of extraordinary qualities, but that 
he was great because he had the best qualities of 
common manhood to an extraordinary degree, 
that he represented the best type of a plain 
American man raised to high duties and responsi¬ 
bilities. 


BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

TWENTY-THIRD PRESIDENT.—1889-1893. 

What a unique honor was that of John Scott 
Harrison, of the State of Ohio! His father and his 
son have each been President of the United States. 
As yet, no other citizen can claim the distinction, 
though a portion of it be¬ 
longed to the elder and to 
the younger Adams. Ben¬ 
jamin Harrison was born at 
North Bend, Ohio, August 
20, 1833, and was the third 
son of John Scott Harrison. 
His great-grandfather was 
one of the Virginia dele¬ 
gates to the Congress which 
formed the Declaration of Independence, and was 
one of the signers of that immortal document. 

The father of Benjamin Harrison owned a large 
farm on the Ohio, near the mouth of the Big 
Miami, and the boy helped in the work of cultivat¬ 
ing it. But the parent did not neglect the education 
of his children. Benjamin went to school in an 
old log house, attended Farmers’ College, near Cin¬ 
cinnati, and then entered Miami University, at Ox¬ 
ford, as a student. While at college, he formed 







204 


Lives of the Presidents . 


the acquaintance of Miss Caroline L. Scott. Her 
father was a professor in the university when she 
was born and he afterward became president of the 
university in 1862. She graduated at the same 
time that Mr. Harrison took his degree, and was 
married to him October 20, 1853, before the 
husband had attained his majority. 

While a student, Mr. Harrison became noted as 
a ready, off-hand speaker and debater. He never 
seemed at a loss for words, all of which were happily 
chosen. He often rose to heights of eloquence, 
and it is undoubtedly the fact that no President of 
the United States has ever surpassed, if, indeed, 
anyone has ever equalled him in this respect. His 
taste was exquisite, his sentiments graceful and 
appropriate, his logic convincing, and his choice 
of words perfect. 

He was admitted to the bar in the same year of 
his marriage, putting up his sign in Indianapolis, 
in 1854. Business was slow for a time, but a client 
who once engaged his services was never dis¬ 
satisfied. He was able, and always did his best, 
no matter whether the interests involved were 
small or great. He formed several partnerships, 
and, as time progressed, became one of the fore¬ 
most lawyers in the West. 

Mr. Harrison’s first entrance into politics was in 
1860, when he was a candidate for the office of re- 


Benjamin Harrison . 


205 


porter of the Supreme Court. In the canvas he 
astonished his friends by his powers as a forceful 
and convincing speaker. He was a Republican in 
politics, and did not hesitate to measure swords 
with the ablest champions among his opponents, 
with the result that he won his election. He was 
still reporter, when, obeying the promptings of 
patriotism, he enlisted in the war. He arranged to 
have the duties of his office performed during his 
absence, but at the close of the year, the Demo¬ 
crats nominated a candidate. The friends of Har¬ 
rison believing that he would be allowed to serve 
out his term, made no nomination. The courts, 
however, decided that his enlistment vacated the 
office, and his opponent was installed, but in 1864, 
while Harrison was in the field, he was re-nomi¬ 
nated and elected by an overwhelming majority. 
He assumed the office upon his return home and 
served to the end of the term. 

Harrison made a fine record as a soldier. He 
was mustered into the service as colonel of the 
Seventieth Regiment of Infantry, August 7, 1862, 
his term of enlistment being for three years. 
About a year later, he was advanced to the com¬ 
mand of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Re¬ 
serve Corps. In April, 1864, he commanded the 
First Brigade, First Division, Eleventh Army 
Corps, and September 23, 1864, the First Brigade, 


20o 


Lives of the Presidents . 


Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps. He was 
detailed for a time on special duty in Indiana, but 
soon returned to the field. While on his way to 
General Sherman at Savannah, Ga., he was pros¬ 
trated by a severe illness, and before he was hardly 
recovered, made haste to join Sherman, whose army 
was at Raleigh, N. C. 

Harrison was brevetted brigadier-general of vol¬ 
unteers January 23, 1865, and, as colonel, he 
took a gallant part in the battles of Russellville, 
Ky., and the various engagements of the Atlanta 
campaign. As a brigade commander, he was en¬ 
gaged at Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, 
the siege of Atlanta, the battle of Nashville, and 
was present at the surrender of Johnston’s army, 
April 26, 1865. He received the warm commenda¬ 
tions of his superior officers, General Hooker 
especially paying him marked compliments in his 
despatches. “Little Ben,” as he was called, was 
exceedingly popular with his soldiers, for he was 
considerate of them, shared their privations and 
perils, and always took the lead when danger 
came. 

General Harrison resumed his profession upon 
the closing of his term as law reporter, and quickly 
built up an extensive and lucrative practice. While 
absent on a vacation in 1876, Godlove S. Orth, the 
Republican candidate for governor, withdrew, and 


Benjamin Harrison . 


207 


General Harrison, without being consulted, was 
put on the ticket in his place. It was a hopeless 
contest, though he ran two thousand ahead of his 
ticket. He had voluntarily sacrificed himself, and 
his party felt its obligations to him. President 
Hayes, in 1879, appointed him a member of the 
Mississippi River Commission, and the next year 
he was chairman of the Indiana delegation to the 
convention which nominated Garfield. Numerous 
friends favored Harrison, but he would not permit 
the use of his name. 

His services during the campaign were so im¬ 
portant that President Garfield offered him a place 
in his Cabinet, but he declined, and was chosen 
United States Senator in 1881, and served to the end 
of his term. His abilities placed him in the front 
of the debaters in that body, and won him the re¬ 
spect of his political opponents. The Republicans 
found him sound on all party measures, and in the 
language of politics a “safe man.” They had 
many brilliant partisans, but none abler than he. 
Since Indiana was to be a decisive factor in the ap¬ 
proaching Presidential election, the party was anx¬ 
ious to find a candidate who could carry it against 
Cleveland, with the hope also of gaining New York. 
Indiana had given so many proofs of her admira¬ 
tion for her most illustrious citizen that the belief 
was general that he was the one most likely to win. 


208 


Lives of the Presidents . 


When the national Republican convention met 
in Chicago, the Indiana delegation was unanimous 
for Harrison. On the first ballot John Sherman 
led, and Harrison stood fifth. Seven ballots fol¬ 
lowed, during which Chauncey M. Depew with¬ 
drew and turned his support to Harrison, who re¬ 
ceived the nomination on the eighth ballot. 

As we have learned, his Democratic opponent 
was Grover Cleveland of New York. General 
Harrison alarmed his friends by making nearly 
one hundred speeches during the campaign. They 
feared that he would give expression to some senti¬ 
ment which could be used against him with disas¬ 
trous effect. But General Harrison made no mis¬ 
take. His words were well chosen, his sentiments 
patriotic, and his diction so admirable that it won 
the praise of purists and delighted the masses. 
Indeed, many of the speeches, as well as those de¬ 
livered when, as President, he made a journey to 
the Pacific coast, might well serve as models for 
study by the youth of our land. 

Mr. Harrison was inaugurated as President March 
4,1889, and gave to the country a worthy and cred¬ 
itable administration. Although James G. Blaine 
was his Secretary of State, President Harrison 
dominated his Cabinet, and his cool, clear, patriotic 
and sound judgment was felt from the beginning 
to the close of his term. He won the commenda- 


Benjamin Harrison. 


209 


tion of political opponents by his thorough Ameri¬ 
canism on all questions. This was shown in the 
trouble with Chili, the Bering Sea controversy and 
the Hawaiian affair. He was always a protec¬ 
tionist and immovably in favor of hard or “honest” 
money, and it may be said that throughout his life 
he was the ablest exponent of his party’s principles. 

There was little opposition to his re-nomination 
at Minneapolis, in 1892, but he received defeat 
at the hands of Grover Cleveland. He withdrew 
to his home in Indianapolis and resumed the prac¬ 
tice of his law business, which yielded him a large 
income. He was looked upon as the one most 
likely to receive the nomination at the Republican 
national convention, held in St. Louis, in June, 
1896, but early in the year he made public an¬ 
nouncement that he would not be a candidate, 
and the honor went to another. 

When the Philippine question came up, ex- 
President Harrison, in the North American 
Review, took a decided stand as an anti-expan¬ 
sionist. After he left the presidency, he was 
counsel for Venezuela before the Arbitration 
Commission of Paris. He was also arbitrator for 
the United States on the commission appointed as 
a result of the Hague Peace Conference. On the 
second Wednesday in March, 1901, he died after 
a week’s illness from an attack of pneumonia. 


WILLIAM McKINLEY 

TWENTY-FIFTH PRESIDENT.— 1897-1901. 

The McKinley family had its origin in the west¬ 
ern part of Scotland, where they early became 
noted for their valor and devotion to principle. 

They were identified with 
the Covenanter party, and 
fully shared its sturdy hold¬ 
ing of the faith and its in¬ 
domitable resistance to the 
persecution and tyranny of 
the Stuarts. The family 
emigrated to the north of 
Ireland during the reign of 
Charles II., and came to 
America about the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 
David McKinley fought under Washington and 
lived in Pennsylvania until the war of 1812, when 
joining the tide of emigration westward, he re¬ 
moved to the country beyond the Ohio River and 
settled in the region now known as Columbiana 
county. There he married Mary Rose and founded 
the “Buckeye Branch” of the McKinley family. 
Their first son was William, who remained in 
eastern Ohio and was one of the pioneers of the 
iron business in that region, with foundries at Fair- 





William McKinley . 


211 


field, New Wilmington, and other places. His 
wife, Nancy Allison, was a descendant like him¬ 
self, of Scotch Covenanter stock. They had eight 
children, one of whom, William, was born at Niles, 
in Trumbull County, Ohio, January 29,1843. The 
house in which the twenty-fifth President first saw 
the light is still standing on one of the streets of 
Niles. 

The parents of William McKinley were well- 
to-do people. Their son was neither pampered 
in luxury, nor did he feel the grinding poverty 
under which many others suffered. He was a 
strong, rugged boy, with an observant mind, modest, 
manly and well liked by his associates. While a lad, 
he attended for a few years the village school at Niles. 
Then the family removed to Poland, in Mahoning, 
the county between Trumbull and Columbiana, in 
order that their children might enjoy the advan¬ 
tages of the high school or academy in that town. 
Young McKinley was a thorough, well grounded 
student, rather than a showy one, but soon devel¬ 
oped much ability in argument and debate. It was 
his ambition to enter college, and, having been pre¬ 
pared, he was matriculated at the age of sixteen, 
at Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn. He had 
hardly begun his studies when he fell ill, and was 
obliged to return home. His father’s business had 
turned out so poorly, that when the son recovered, 


212 


Lives of the Presidents. 


lie was obliged to support himself. He cheerfully 
took to school teaching, in a district school near 
Poland, where he received twenty-five dollars a 
month and “boarded around.” He set to work to 
save enough money to pay his expenses through 
college, but it was not destined so to be. 

Young McKinley, eighteen years old, was teach¬ 
ing school when the country was electrified by the 
bombardment of Fort Sumter. Among the first to 
answer the call of President Lincoln for volunteers 
was young McKinley, who enlisted in Company E 
of the Twenty-third Ohio regiment, June 11, 1861. 
This regiment was one of the most famous that 
served in the war. The first colonel was William 
S. Rosecrans, afterward major-general and com¬ 
mander of the armies of the Tennessee and Depart¬ 
ment of the Cumberland. The lieutenant-colonel 
was Stanley Matthews, who after the war became 
a Senator of the United States and then a Justice of 
the Supreme Court. The major was Rutherford 
B. Hayes, afterward brigadier-general and then 
governor of Ohio and nineteenth President of the 
United States. 

For fourteen months, McKinley carried a mus¬ 
ket, attaining the rank of sergeant April 15, 1862. 
Years afterward, when governor of Ohio, he re¬ 
called that period: “I always look back with pleas¬ 
ure upon those fourteen months in which I served 


William McKinley . 


213 


in the ranks. They taught me a great deal. I 
was hut a schoolboy when I went into the army, 
and that first year was a formative period of my 
life, during which I learned much of men’ and 
affairs. I have always been glad that I entered 
the service as a private and served those months 
in that capacity.” 

Sergeant McKinley was commissioned second 
lieutenant of Company D, September 24,1862. Five 
months later, he became first lieutenant of Com¬ 
pany E, and on July 25, 1864, he had risen to be 
captain of Company G. Hardly had he been com¬ 
missioned, when his value as an officer was recog¬ 
nized, and three months afterward he was detailed 
as aide de camp on the staff of General Ruther¬ 
ford B. Hayes. Thenceforward, until the close of 
the war, he served continually as staff officer, being 
at different times on the staffs of Generals S. S. 
Carroll, George Crook, famous later as the great 
Indian fighter, and Winfield S. Hancock. McKin¬ 
ley was brevetted major on the recommendation of 
General Sheridan, for distinguished and gallant 
conduct at Cedar Creek and Fisher’s Hill. With 
his regiment or while on staff duty, he fought 
bravely in West Virginia, in the Army of the 
Potomac under McClellan, and under Sheridan in 
the Shenandoah Valley. He took part in all the 
early fights in West Virginia, when McClellan 


214 


Lives of the Presidents . 


made his brilliant reputation. He was at Antie- 
tam, the bloodiest battle of the whole war, receiv¬ 
ing his shoulder straps one week after that terrific 
engagement. He took part in more than thirty 
battles and skirmishes, never missing a day’s duty 
or a fight, and staying through to the end. Mus¬ 
tered out July 26, 1865, he was a veteran at the 
age of twenty-two years, ranking among the brav¬ 
est of the patriots and winning the praise of such 
fighters as the daring General Crook and the fiery 
Sheridan. 

But the war was ended, the Union restored, and 
McKinley, like thousands of young men, was 
obliged to find means of obtaining a livelihood. 
Could he have followed his own wishes, he would 
have returned to college, but he lacked the means 
and his family were too poor to help him. He 
went over to Canton, the seat of Stark County, and 
talked a long time with his elder sister, Anna, who 
was teaching school there. She urged him to 
study law, and he did so, first in the office of 
Judge Charles E. Glidden, at Canton, and after¬ 
ward in the well-known law school at Albany, 
N. Y., from which institution he was graduated 
and admitted to the bar in 1867. He began prac¬ 
tice in Canton. Clients were slow in finding him 
out, but such resolute and able men are certain of 
success, sooner or later, and it came in due time to 


William McKinley. 


215 


McKinley. His practice became important and 
lucrative. He was interested in politics, and, hav¬ 
ing become popular as a speaker, was in continual 
demand. Stark County was classed as one of the 
banner Democratic counties of Ohio, and, when 
McKinley was nominated on the Republican ticket 
for district attorney, there seemed to be no pros¬ 
pect at all of his winning. However, he threw all 
his energies into the canvass, and, to the astonish¬ 
ment of himself and every one else, was elected. 
He was re-nominated at the end of his two years’ 
term, but failed of success by a slender vote. 

This was the beginning of his political career. 
In 1876, after an exciting canvass, he was elected 
representative to Congress, succeeding himself for 
the six following terms. From the beginning of 
those fourteen years of public service, he was an 
active and conspicuous member of the House. His 
interest in industrial questions eventually made 
him the foremost champion of American protection. 
His first speech in Congress was on the subject of 
protection, and he was soon recognized as the 
ablest exponent of the policy in the House. In 
1889, the Republican party secured full control of 
the government, and McKinley was appointed 
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. 
With the aid of his seven associates, he framed 
and gave life to the tariff bill which will always be 


216 Lives of the Presidents . 

known by his name. The law was enacted in 
1890, but was repealed by the Democratic mem¬ 
bers two years later. 

Having been defeated for Congress, in the elec¬ 
tion of 1890, McKinley was nominated by the 
Republicans of Ohio for governor, and the aggres¬ 
sive campaign which he made attracted national 
attention. His political opponents admired his 
brilliancy and eloquence, and saw his success with¬ 
out any feeling of bitterness. He was re-nomi¬ 
nated a second time by acclamation, receiving a 
majority of more than 80,000, at that time the 
largest but one in the history of the State. 

The great ability displayed by McKinley in 
Congress and while occupying the gubernatorial 
chair of his own State, caused him to be discussed 
as a Presidential candidate. Even before he was 
governor—in 1880—he was looked upon by many 
as the “coming man.” Four years later, his name, 
against his wishes, was presented in the nominat¬ 
ing convention. In 1888, he could have had the 
nomination, but refused it on a point of honor. 
He was a delegate from Ohio for his friend, Sena¬ 
tor John Sherman, and when it became apparent 
that it was impossible to nominate him, his friends 
urged McKinley to become a candidate, assuring 
him that his success was certain. He peremptorily 
refused, declaring that he would consider any vote 


William McKinley . 


217 


cast in his favor in the light of a reflection upon 
him. This checked the stampede and won for him 
the respect of every one. 

A similar incident took place in 1892. Mr. 
McKinley was the presiding officer and had pledged 
himself to support President Harrison for re-nomi¬ 
nation. Again a stampede impended, but when, 
in spite of his protest, Ohio cast her 44 votes for 
him, McKinley left the chair, forbade the vote and 
moved to make the re-nomination of Harrison 
unanimous. 

It may be said, therefore, that Mr. McKinley’s 
nomination in 1896 was in the nature of a fore¬ 
gone conclusion. For weeks and months before 
the assembling of the national Republican con¬ 
vention in St. Louis, the trend was so remark¬ 
ably his way that scarcely any other person 
was spoken or thought of. He was overwhelm¬ 
ingly nominated on the first ballot on Thurs¬ 
day, June 18, 1896. Immediately one of the most 
exciting and vigorous campaigns in the history 
of the country began. The Democratic party 
divided at its nominating convention at Chicago, 
in July, on the question of “free coinage,” as it is 
termed, and William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska, 
was nominated as the champion of free silver. Mr. 
Bryan threw his whole energies into the campaign, 
working without cessation up to the eve of elec- 


218 


Lives of the Presidents . 


tion. He is a pleasing and forceful speaker, and 
in the course of his tour through the States made 
at times as many as fifteen and twenty addresses a 
day, Mr. McKinley remained at his home in 
Canton, leaving the canvass to be carried on by the 
hundreds of speakers who traversed the country 
and worked night and day for him. Thousands 
of visitors went to Canton to pay their respects to 
him, and, in this way, he was compelled to make 
almost as many speeches as his leading opponent, 
Mr. Bryan. 

The result of the election was that Mr. McKinley 
received 7,061,142 votes; Mr. Bryan, 6,460,677 votes. 
In the electoral college (see Constitution of the 
United States, Amendment XII) McKinley re¬ 
ceived 271 votes and Bryan 176. The McKinley 
campaign was managed by Senator Mark Hanna, 
of Ohio; the Bryan campaign by Senator Jones, of 
Arkansas. 

On March 4, 1897, one of the most beautiful 
days of early spring, President McKinley was 
inaugurated at Washington, in the presence of an 
immense assembly. He chose an excellent cabi¬ 
net and convened congress in extra session, March 
15. Its principal work was the passage of the 
Dingley Tariff Bill, protective in its nature, which 
became a law July 24. Among the prominent 
features characterizing President McKinley’s first 


William McKinley . 


219 


administration were the passage of the sound money 
law; the war with Spain; the annexation of Puerto 
Rico, the Philippines and Guam; the annexation 
of Hawaii; the annexation of Tutuila; the organ¬ 
ization of Cuba; and the determination of American 
relations with China. 

The war with Spain was formally declared on 
April 25,1898. The ground for the war was stated by 
President McKinley to be the failure of that country 
to provide for Cuba “a just, benevolent, and humane 
government, which shall encourage thrift, industry, 
and prosperity, and shall promote peace and good 
will among all the inhabitants, whatever may have 
been their relations in the past.” On Sept. 9, 
President McKinley appointed five Peace Com¬ 
missioners, who met the Spanish Commissioners 
in Paris, France, and agreed upon terms of peace. 

The war cost Spain about 5,500 men in 
killed and wounded, about 170,000 square miles 
of territory, the loss of two navies (about 30 ships, 
altogether), and about $125,000,000 in actual ex¬ 
penses. The United States lost about 4,000 men, 
the battleship Maine, $20,000,000 indemnity paid to 
Spain, and about $200,000,000 in general expenses. 

The President appointed a commission to go to 
the Philippines to try to establish good government 
and to organize a system of public schools in those 
islands. He also tried to establish good govern- 


220 


Lives of the Presidents . 


ment in Cuba, and to prevent the partition of China 
by European nations. His administration was so 
satisfactory that when the Republican Covention 
met in Philadelphia on June 19, 1900, his was the 
only name offered for the nomination for Presi¬ 
dent. Governor Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, 
was nominated for Vice-President. The Democrats 
again nominated Mr. Wm. J. Bryan. 

The result of the election in 1900 was that 
McKinley received 7,208,244 votes; Bryan, 
6,358,789. In the electoral college McKinley 
received 292 votes; Bryan, 155. The President 
was inaugurated for the second term on March 4, 
1901, and retained his former cabinet ministers. 
His administration of the duties of his great office 
was so fair and conscientious that the President 
won the confidence and esteem of all—both ad¬ 
herents and opponents. 

While attending the Buffalo, N. Y., Exposition, 
President McKinley was shot down by an anarchist 
assassin named Czolgosz, on Sept. 6, 1901. 

He lingered until Sept. 14, and won the admi¬ 
ration of everyone by his Christian courage. His 
last words were: “Goodby, all, goodby. It is God’s 
way. His will, not ours, be done.” And then, 
as he sank into unconsciousness, his lips feebly 
whispered, “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” He was 
buried at Canton, O., September 19. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

TWENTY-SIXTH PRESIDENT. —1901-1909. 

Upon the death of President McKinley, Vice- 
President Theodore Roosevelt in accordance with 
the Constitution became president. He was the fifth 
vice-president to succeed 
the man with whom he 
was associated on the 
ticket, and the only one 
so succeeding re-elected 
to the presidency. 

President Roosevelt was 
born in New York city 
on October 27, 1858, his 
father being of Dutch 
ancestry and his mo¬ 
ther (nee Miss Martha 
Bullock) being of a noted southern family. He was 
graduated from Harvard University in 1880 and took 
a short trip to Europe. Returning to New York, 
he studied law, entered politics, and in 1881 was 
elected to the legislature. His firm stand for an 
upright administration of the laws, his fearless 
exposure of corruption, and his energetic character, 
all led to his re-election in 1883. 

After making some speeches in the presidential 
campaign of 1884, Mr. Roosevelt went to his ranch 





222 


Lives of the Presidents. 


in Dakota. Here he became expert as a cowboy, 
and here he wrote two of his best-known 
books,—“Ranch Life” and “The Winning of 
the West.” Returning to New York city in 1886, 
Roosevelt was nominated for Mayor, but failed of 
election. President Harrison, however, recognized 
his ability and appointed him on the Civil Service 
Commission. He made so fine a record that 
Mayor Strong of New York appointed him police 
commissioner of that city in 1894. In 1897 he 
was made Assistant Secretary of the Navy at Wash¬ 
ington. Here, as in the police commissionership, 
Roosevelt was noted for the sensible, practical 
character of his suggestions, and for seeing person¬ 
ally that his subordinates performed their duties 
faithfully. 

To his honesty and carefulness in performing 
his duties as Assistant Secretary of War, and to 
his thorough preparation of our ships for that 
contest, much of the success of the United States 
in the war with Spain is said to be due. He be¬ 
came so intensely interested in that struggle, 
however, that he resigned his place at Washington 
and raised a cavalry regiment, known as “The 
Rough Riders.” At the head of this he entered 
the campaign in Cuba. 

The regiment, as well as its commanding officer, 
made a very creditable record for bravery, patience, 


Theodore Roosevelt . 


223 


and devotion to duty. At San Juan Hill, near 
Santiago, Cuba, the men were among the first 
to reach the Spanish fort and enjoy the victory, 
though they had been worn out and discouraged 
by lack of food and by the rain and mud. 

After his return to New York at the close 
of the Spanish War, Colonel Roosevelt was nominat¬ 
ed for governor by the Republicans. He was elected 
by a majority of 17,000 votes. As governor, he 
showed the same independence of character and 
action which had been manifest in his previous 
life. 

A re-nnion of the Rough Riders was held in 
Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1900, on the second 
anniversary of the battle of Las Guasimas. During 
the exercises a medal was presented to Governor 
Roosevelt and a sword to Major Brodie, a gallant 
officer of the same command, by the Rough Riders 
and the citizens of New Mexico. 

At the Republican Convention at Philadelphia, 
in June, 1900, Governor Roosevelt was nominated 
for Vice-President of the United States on the 
ticket with President McKinley. On the death of 
President McKinley, he took the oath of office as 
President at Buffalo, N. Y., September 14, 1901. 

President Roosevelt’s friends delighted in refer¬ 
ring to him as “the man who does things.” Many 
people thought him too impetuous, and felt that 


224 


Lives of the Presidents . 


he took too much upon himself. But that he 
commanded the admiration and held the confi¬ 
dence of the vast majority of American citizens 
was shown by the fact that, by an overwhelming 
vote, they elected him to serve again as President. 
His great popularity was further shown in 1907 
and 1908 by a widespread demand that he should 
be the Republican nominee for President in the 
campaign of 1908. Only his absolute refusal to 
be considered a candidate, or to accept the nomi¬ 
nation should it be tendered him, prevented his 
nomination for what would have been what he 
considered as a third term as President. 

Judge Alton B. Parker, the Democratic nomi¬ 
nee, was Mr. Roosevelt’s chief opponent in the 
election of November, 1904. His electors received 
5,077,971 votes, against Mr. Roosevelt’s 7,623,486. 
In the electoral college the vote was: Roosevelt, 
336; Parker, 140. 

President Roosevelt’s administration was one 
of extraordinary activity in many ways. In the 
most of these activities Mr. Roosevelt was the 
central figure. Oftentimes he did the unexpected 
thing, or at least did what he did do in an unex¬ 
pected way. This frequently aroused criticism, 
but in almost every case it was only a short time 
till the majority of the American people not only 
approved what he had done, but his way of doing 


Theodore Roosevelt. 


225 


it. One instance of this was his appointment of 
the arbitration commission to settle the great 
Pennsylvania coal strike, in 1903. For months 
there had been a dispute between the owners and 
the workers of the Pennsylvania coal mines and 
no coal was being mined. Winter was coming on 
and there was a shortage of coal in the country. 
Neither the miners nor the mine workers would 
yield. President Roosevelt then called to the 
White House representatives of both parties to 
the contest and told them that in the interest of 
the third party, the public, the strike must end and 
the miners return to work at once; that he would 
appoint a commission to arbitrate their differ¬ 
ences, which should report at a later date, but 
that the terms of settlement as decided by the 
commission should date from the time of the re¬ 
turn of the miners to work. While Mr. Roosevelt 
had no legal authority for appointing such a com¬ 
mission his action was legalized by Congress at its 
next session. His action in bringing the strike to 
an end prevented untold suffering by thousands 
of American citizens. It was an eminently sane 
and sensible thing to do and yet probably no 
other person in the country could have accom¬ 
plished the same result at that time. 

President Roosevelt in the prompt recognition 
of the Republic of Panama did an act that will 


226 


Lives of the Presidents. 


be of inestimable value to the United States. 
Panama had been a part of the United States of 
Columbia. Columbia through selfish reasons had 
rejected a treaty with the United States provid¬ 
ing for the construction of a Panama Canal. 
Panama immediately revolted and declared her¬ 
self independent. In a very few days President 
Roosevelt recognized the independence of Panama 
and by so doing prevented what would in all 
probability have been serious international diffi¬ 
culties for the United States. By this prompt 
recognition he also cleared the way for the con¬ 
struction and ownership of the Panama Canal by 
the United States, as a treaty to that effect was 
soon concluded between the United States and 
the Republic of Panama. 

. To President Roosevelt more than to any other 
person in the world is due the credit for bringing 
to an end the war between Russia and Japan in 
1905. Through his influence representatives of 
these two countries were brought together at 
Portsmouth, N. H., in an attempt to end the war. 
When it appeared that they could not possibly 
agree on account of their respective governments 
not allowing them to yield sufficiently, President 
Roosevelt, by repeated personal appeals to the 
Emperors of both these countries, induced them to 
yield in the demands made on the other to such an 


Theodore Roosevelt , 


227 


extent that a treaty of peace was concluded, thus 
ending the war. By receiving the award of the 
Nobel Peace Prize of $40,000.00 for his influence 
in ending this war Mr. Roosevelt was officially 
recognized as having done more during the year 
to promote international peace than any other 
person in the world. His interest in peace was 
further shown by the fact that he immediately 
gave this entire amount to establish the “Found¬ 
ation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace” in 
the United States. It was he who sent to The 
Hague Peace Court the first case ever tried by 
that Court of Nations. 

On March 5, 1909, the next day after the close 
of his term as President, he became associate 
editor of The Outlook , a magazine published in 
New York City. He has written a large number 
of books and magazine articles. Some of these 
deal with hunting and ranch life, some are on 
political and social affairs, and some are on history 
and biography. In a few days after the close of 
his term as President he went to Africa on a 
year’s hunting trip, going as the leader of a 
scientific expedition sent out by the Smithsonian 
Institution. 

There have been many attempts to account for 
Mr. Roosevelt’s popularity with the American 
people. Perhaps the principal elements of this 


228 


Lives of the Presidents. 


popular faith in him were his personal courage, 
his record of straightforward, faithful service, 
and his spontaneity, showing enthusiasm, 
energy, good-fellowship, and interest in unex¬ 
pected ways and places. He had an extraordi¬ 
nary quickness of mental action and enjoyed 
overcoming obstacles. 

Upon the entry of America in the World 
War, Mr. Roosevelt promptly offered his serv¬ 
ices to his country. He was anxious to take 
an active part in the fighting and asked permis¬ 
sion to raise four divisions for the front. Army 
officers, however, objected and, as the adminis¬ 
tration had adopted a rule which barred the 
placing in posts of command any but profes¬ 
sionally trained soldiers, he appealed to the 
President and to Congress. Congress author¬ 
ized the creation of a special organization, but 
the President sustained the military chiefs. 

His disappointment did not, however, prevent 
his giving his services and influence wholeheart¬ 
edly to the promotion of the various war drives. 

By many he was called the hope of the Repub¬ 
lican party for the election of 1920, but he was 
not to see another campaign. After a very 
short illness death suddenly came at his home, 
Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, N. Y., January 5, 
1919. He was buried at Sagamore Hill. 


WILLIAM H. TAFT. 


twenty-seventh president. —1909—1913. 

William H. Taft was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
September 15, 1857. His father was Alphonso 
Taft who served in President Grant’s cabinet as 
Attorney-General. After 
completing the course in 
the public schools of 
Cincinnati, W. H. Taft 
entered Yale University 
from which he graduated 
in 1878, ranking second 
in a class of 120. While 
at Yale he led his class in 
popularity as “Big Bill 
Taft,” and also in al¬ 
most every form of class 
activity. He was able to 
do this because in every 
situation and task, at any and all times, he gave 
forth his best, reserved nothing of strength from 
his duty, but threw himself into his work with all 
his might. After graduating from Yale he studied 
law, was admitted to the bar, and held various 
county and state offices in Ohio from 1881 to 1890. 
It was during this time, 1886, that he married 
Miss Helen Herron. 








230 


Lives of the Presidents 


In 1890 he was called to Washington by an ap¬ 
pointment as Solicitor-General of the United 
States, which office he held till 1892. It was 
during this time that he met Theodore Roosevelt 
who was then a member of the United States 
Civil Service Commission and there was formed 
that friendship that later influenced President 
Roosevelt to recommend Mr. Taft to succeed 
him. While it is possible for men of opposite 
traits to accomplish a great work together, when 
such contrasting temperaments find themselves 
opposed to each other in the leadership of men, 
these differences may become serious and the rup¬ 
ture of this friendship resulted in the undignified 
and bitter personal conflict that distinguished the 
campaign of 1912. 

From 1890 to the time of his campaign for the 
presidency Mr. Taft was continuously in the serv¬ 
ice of the United States. From 1892 to 1900 he 
was a United States Circuit Judge; from 1900 to 
1904 he was President of the United States Philip¬ 
pine Commission, serving as first civil governor of 
the Philippines from 1901 to 1904, and was Sec¬ 
retary of War in President’s Roosevelt’s Cabinet 
from 1904 to 1908. 

It was in 1900 when the possession and govern¬ 
ment of the Philippines presented many serious, 
unsolved problems to the United States that 
President McKinley said to Secretary of State 


William H. Taft. 


231 


Day, “I want a man who is big, strong, patient, 
tactful, firm, and yet willing to kill himself 
with hard work if necessary.” “Why don’t you 
send for him, then?”, replied Day; “Will Taft is 
the man you want.” At the time Mr. Taft was 
in Cincinnati. President McKinley telegraphed 
him to come to Washington, and he went, not 
knowing what was wanted. When Mr. McKinley 
informed him that he wanted him to head the 
Philippine Commission he protested that he did 
not want to go. Mr. McKinley said, “Here is one 
of the most difficult tasks now confronting our 
nation. You are the man to do it. You must 
help me out. It is your duty.” And Mr. Taft 
went because convinced that is was his duty, ap¬ 
parently giving up all hope of attaining his life's 
ambition, a place in the United States Supreme 
Court. 

Mr. Taft’s success in the Philippines was re¬ 
markable. In a few years he molded the Filipinos 
into a rudimentary nation and equipped them 
with all the institutions of modern civilization. 
So thoroughly did he gain the confidence and good 
will of the Filipinos that many of them yet call 
him “Santo Taft,” or “Saint Taft.” While in the 
Philippines he showed a remarkable sense of de¬ 
votion to duty by twice refusing positions in the 
United States Supreme Court, just what had been 


232 Lives of the Presidents. 

and was then his highest personal ambition, 
offered him by President Roosevelt, because, as 
he said, the Filipinos needed him more than the 
Supreme Court did. His lofty ideals were shown 
at a later date when he refused an offer of a law 
partnership in New York with a guarantee of 
$50,000.00 per year, saying ‘‘there are bigger 
things in this world than money.” 

While Secretary of War Mr. Taft took charge of 
and organized a provisional government in Cuba, 
a step the United States could by treaty rights 
do when the Cubans could not satisfactorily 
govern themselves. Here, as he had done in the 
Philippines, he managed a very difficult situation 
to the satisfaction of all. At another time he 
went to Panama to settle difficulties that had 
arisen there. In fact it became a common saying 
in Washington that whenever trouble occurred 
any place in the world of so serious a nature that 
those who were supposed to settle it could not 
control affairs, Taft was the man who must be 
sent to straighten it out. Helped to a considerable 
extent by the influence of President Roosevelt he 
was nominated for the presidency by the Repub¬ 
lican National Convention in 1908. His leading 
opponent was William J. Bryan who had twice 
before been a candidate for the presidency. For 
a short time the result seemed to be in doubt but 


William H. Taft. 


233 


as the time for the election drew near it became 
apparent to close observers that Taft, with James 
S. Sherman, of New York, who had been nomi¬ 
nated for the vice-presidency, would be elected. 
The popular vote for the electors resulted as fol¬ 
lows: Taft electors, 7,637,676; Bryan electors, 
6,383,182. The vote in the electoral college stood, 
Taft, 321; Bryan, 162. 

Mr. Taft was inaugurated President, March 4, 
1909, in the midst of one of the worst storms the 
city of Washington has known at that time of the 
year, a fact which caused a renewal of the dis¬ 
cussion about changing the time for the inaugu¬ 
ration of the presidents. In his inaugural address 
President Taft advocated the maintenance of the 
reforms initiated in the “Roosevelt policies,” re¬ 
form of the tariff, economy in government ex¬ 
penditures, rapid completion of the Panama 
Canal, and greater political sympathy between 
the North and the South. 

The new President confronted a difficult situa¬ 
tion. His judicial mind, trained to wait for the 
last bit of testimony before forming his opinion, 
and his persistence in applying rule and precedent 
to all important transactions, while excellent 
qualities in their place, do not enable an executive 
official to grasp a situation and decide with the 
promptness expected of the head of a great Nation. 


234 


Lives of the Presidents 


In the early part of his administration the De¬ 
partment of the Interior became aligned against 
the progressive policies the people expected Presi¬ 
dent Taft to carry out and, when he took no action, 
they began to distrust his sincerity. After the 
passage of the tariff act, in 1909, the administra¬ 
tion became definitely regarded as reactionary. 
President Taft always called himself a Progressive 
but he has been called a man “who sticks to the 
facts, sees no visions, dislikes pioneering, and 
chooses the soft way out of a difficulty.” He 
thought he could succeed better by working with 
the party organization and with Congress, without 
recognizing that their unpopularity would reflect 
upon himself. He did not realize that opposition 
to the “bosses” was a large element in the popu¬ 
larity of ex-President Roosevelt and Governor 
Hughes. 

The breach between the former friends con¬ 
tinued to widen and ex-President Roosevelt now 
had to choose between what he considered to be 
loyalty to the President and loyalty to the people. 
He acceded to the wishes of the progressive wing 
of the Republican Party to become a candidate 
for a third term which disappointed many of his 
admirers who were opposed to the third term idea. 

The results of the primaries gave the Progressives 
great encouragement. The Republican National 


William H. Taft. 


235 


Convention was held at Chicago, June 18-22, 1912, 
At this meeting the dissension in the ranks of the 
party was brought to a climax by the alleged 
“theft” of delegates by the administration leaders, 
by which means they were enabled to bring about 
the renomination of Taft and Sherman. This 
resulted in the birth of a new political organization 
—the Progressive Party. A convention was held 
August 5-7, at which Theodore Roosevelt was 
nominated unanimously for President, and Hiram 
Johnson of California for Vice-President. 

The Democrats, after a struggle between “con¬ 
servatives” and “progressives” in their convention 
nominated Woodrow Wilson for President and 
Thomas R. Marshall for Vice-President. 

During the campaign Mr. Roosevelt made ex¬ 
tended speaking tours, followed every place by 
two of President Taft’s adherents, who attacked 
his policies. These speeches were often very 
bitter and probably influenced the attack on 
Roosevelt’s life by an insane man, John Schrank, 
in Milwaukee. The ex-President, though danger¬ 
ously wounded, persisted in delivering his ad¬ 
dress before an audience of 10,000 persons. This 
was one of the most dramatic scenes in the his¬ 
tory of American politics. 

Ex-President Roosevelt accomplished much good 
in arousing the country to strive for higher 


236 


Lives of the Presidents. 


ideals in politics, and he was undoubtedly the 
choice of the rank and file of his party; but the 
personal contest which was so prominent a feature 
of the primary campaign was displeasing. Many 
people began to believe what the distinguished 
opponents said of each other and the feeling grew 
that perhaps neither of them was fitted for the 
Presidency. 

Governor Wilson, with an excellent record be¬ 
hind him, conducted a dignified campaign and was 
elected by an overwhelming majority in the 
electoral college. 

The administration of President Taft, from 
which so much was originally expected, was re¬ 
garded as a failure by the rank and file of citi¬ 
zens. His foreign policy left much to be desired; 
for the “dollar diplomacy 5 ' of his Secretary of 
State, Philander C. Knox, caused considerable 
friction in the countries of Central and South Amer¬ 
ica and in Japan. 

Nevertheless a few of his acts were widely com¬ 
mended and some beneficial legislation was passed 
during his term of office. Upon his recommenda¬ 
tion, Congress enlarged the powers of the Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission so as to enable it to 
investigate and regulate the rates of the Pullman 
car service and the express companies. The Presi¬ 
dent also initiated the prosecution of some of the 


William H. Taft . 


237 


largest corporations, which were indicted for vio¬ 
lations of the Sherman Antitrust Act and were 
found guilty of “restraint of trade and monopoli¬ 
zation.” 

In 1910 a bill was passed establishing a system 
of postal savings banks; and two years later the 
parcels post was established through an act strongly 
supported by the President, though introduced into 
Congress by a Democrat. 

Two amendments to the Federal Constitution 
were up for ratification during President Taft’s 
administration: the Sixteenth, empowering Con¬ 
gress to lay taxes on incomes, which the President 
himself proposed in 1909 and which was pro¬ 
claimed ratified in 1913; and the Seventeenth, pro¬ 
viding for the direct election of United States sen¬ 
ators by the voters. Ratification of the latter 
amendment by the necessary number of state leg¬ 
islatures was not completed, however, until 1913, 
after Mr. Wilson had taken office. 

In 1921 President Harding appointed Mr. 
Taft Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, suc¬ 
ceeding Edward D. White whose death occurred 
in 1921. Mr. Taft’s broad legal experience and 
training fitted him admirably for this post, and 
the announcement of his appointment as Chief 
Justice was received with general approval. 


WOODROW WILSON 

TWENTY-EIGHTH PRESIDENT -1913-1921. 

Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Vir¬ 
ginia, Dec. 28, 1856, and is the first President since 
the Civil War to come from the South. His father, 

Joseph R. Wilson, 
was a Presbyterian 
minister and his 
mother (nee Jessie 
Woodrow) was the 
daughter of a prom¬ 
inent Presbyterian 
minister in Ohio. 
Before Wood row 
went to college he 
lived in Georgia and 
South Carolina. 
Altogether the peo¬ 
ple of the South felt 
that President Wilson was of their own race and 
region. 

In 1876, he went north to Princeton University, 
where so many Southerners had gone in the days 
before the war. In college he was interested in 
problems of law and government and, after his 
graduation in the famous class of 79, he returned 






Woodrow Wilson. 239 

to Virginia and entered the law department of the 
University of Virginia. 

He began the practice of law at Atlanta, Georgia, 
in 1882, but deciding later he did not wish to re¬ 
main in the legal profession he went to Johns Hop¬ 
kins to take graduate work in history and political 
science. His “Congressional Government’’ was 
written as his Ph.D. thesis at Johns Hopkins and 
it is said that with the exception of Bryce’s “Holy 
Roman Empire’’ it is the only academic disserta¬ 
tion which in our time has achieved a place in 
general literature. 

He was married to Ellen Louise Axson at Savan¬ 
nah, Georgia, in 1885, and went to Bryn Mawr for 
three years as Associate in History and Political 
Economy, occupying the same position at Wesleyan 
University, Connecticut, 1888-1890, when he was 
called to Princeton. His well-known treatise on 
Government, “The State,” grew out of lectures 
delivered here. It was some years later that he 
wrote the “History of the American People,” 
which tells so interestingly the story of our devel¬ 
opment. 

Mr. Wilson was a very popular professor at 
Princeton and was elected to its presidency, upon 
the resignation of President Patton, in 1902. 

The way he took hold of affairs at Princeton 
showed his executive ability. He saw that Prince- 


240 


Lives of the Presidents. 


ton, like other universities in the East, had become, 
the resort of wealthy young men who did not care 
to study, and he realized that the fault lay partly 
with the university; so he established the Precep¬ 
torial system that made Princeton famous, and 
tried to break up the exclusive clubs. This at¬ 
tracted much attention to President Wilson from 
those who believed in his democratic ideas. 

He resigned as President of the university in 
1910 to accept the nomination for governor of New 
Jersey by the Democratic party and made a vig¬ 
orous campaign. 

As Governor he showed that he understood 
how to deal with political “bosses”. He appointed 
the best men he could find to public office, and 
among the acts he succeeded in having passed 
through the Legislature are the Public Utilities 
Commission bill; the new Corrupt Practice act; 
the new Election law, which practically revolu¬ 
tionized the election and included the “blanket 
ballot,” the Employee’s Liability Act, providing 
compensation for injured and disabled working¬ 
men; and an act providing for the commission 
form of government in municipalities. 

Naturally, a man with this political record was 
looked upon as a good candidate for President, 
and before the Convention of 1912, men began to 
declare themselves for him. Especially was this 


Woodrow Wilson. 


241 


true of college men and young men everywhere. 
In the convention Mr. Wilson stood second on the 
first ballot, and for a whole week the delegates 
voted, trying to come to some conclusion. Finally 
Mr. Bryan and others who favored progressive 
laws were able to carry Mr. Wilson’s nomination. 
In the campaign which followed, his record as 
Governor, and the belief in his ability, indepen¬ 
dence, and progressiveness brought many to his 
side. His majority in the Electoral College was 
overwhelming, but m the popular vote he was 
below the combined vote of Roosevelt and Taft. 

On March 4, 1913, the day of Mr. Wilson’s in¬ 
auguration, the Presidency, Senate, and House of 
Representatives were all in the hands of the Demo¬ 
crats for the first time since 1892. 

In the eight years during which they were in 
power, they were called upon to solve some of the 
gravest problems that had been before the country 
since the days of the Civil War; and they enacted 
legislation of the most vital significance and far- 
reaching results. In most cases President Wilson 
was foremost in promoting the passage of these 
laws. An executive with a strong sense of leader¬ 
ship and liberal views of government, he vigor¬ 
ously impressed his ideas on his party and the coun¬ 
try at large, especially in the earlier years of his 
administrations. In so doing, he broke established 


242 Lives of the Presidents. 

precedents whenever he found it expedient, as in 
the case of his appearances in person before Con¬ 
gress to read his messages or to urge the passage 
of important legislation. 

His demand for antitrust legislation led to the 
creation of the Federal Trade Commission, whose 
chief purpose was to prevent “unfair methods of 
competition in commerce.” A few weeks later, in 
the fall of 1914, Congress passed the Clayton Act, 
a measure designed to supplement the Sherman 
Antitrust Law in curbing the power of great cor¬ 
porations. 

Other laws sponsored by the President were the 
Underwood Act, by which tariff schedules were re¬ 
vised downward to give manufactures a moder¬ 
ate protection and to discourage monopolies; and 
the Federal Reserve Act, whereby one great cen¬ 
tral bank was established under the direction of a 
Federal Reserve Board, with twelve regional re¬ 
serve banks in various parts of the country—a sys¬ 
tem designed to relieve the country from the evils 
of financial panics. 

During President Wilson’s eight years of office, 
three amendments, which had been before the pub¬ 
lic for years, reached final ratification and were 
added to the Federal Constitution. They were: the 
Seventeenth, ratified in 1913, by which United 
States senators were henceforth elected by the di- 


Woodrozv Wilson. 


243 


rect vote of the people; in 1919, the Eighteenth, 
prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transporta¬ 
tion of intoxicating liquors; and in 1920, the Nine¬ 
teenth Amendment, enfranchising women. 

The European War, which broke out in 1914, 
taxed President Wilson’s executive powers to the 
utmost. At its beginning he issued the customary 
proclamation of neutrality. But when the Ger¬ 
mans inaugurated their policy of submarine war¬ 
fare against freight and passenger vessels, with the 
consequent losses in American lives and shipping, 
it became more and more difficult to maintain neu¬ 
trality. After the sinking of the liner, the Lusi¬ 
tania, and other ships, the President was able to 
wring from the Central Powers a conditional prom¬ 
ise that merchant vessels should not be sunk with¬ 
out warning. 

In January, 1917, however, shortly after Presi¬ 
dent Wilson’s election to his second term of office, 
the Central Powers announced a new policy of sink¬ 
ing neutral vessels, as well as those of the Allies, 
within a certain prescribed “war zone.” Neutral¬ 
ity was now cast to the winds and the United States 
entered the war on the side of the Allies. President 
Wilson and his administration made gigantic prepa¬ 
rations for war. Troops were rushed to France 
at the rate of more than 250,000 a month. Amerb 


244 


Lives of the Presidents. 


can soldiers and marines took a prominent part in 
practically all the closing engagements of the war. 

When it came to making peace, the President 
was even more active in leadership than he had 
been throughout the war. He formulated the idea 
of the League of Nations, and in person attended 
the Peace Conference, held in Paris early in 1919, 
in hope of making such a league a part of the treaty 
of peace. The idea was finally accepted by the 
Peace Conference, together with the President’s 
Covenant for the League, and the treaty was signed 
at Versailles, June 28, 1919. 

When the treaty was presented to the Senate for 
ratification, it became the subject of heated and 
bitter debate, which was echoed throughout the 
country. It was contended that such a League of 
Nations would tend to embroil the United States 
unnecessarily in European quarrels. After months 
of wrangling, the Senate rejected the treaty. 

President Wilson refused to accept this decision 
as final and appealed to the voters of the country 
in the presidential election of 1920. The principle 
of the League of Nations now became a campaign 
issue. It was written into the Democratic plat¬ 
form and was championed by the Democratic can¬ 
didate, Governor James M. Cox, of Ohio. But the 
country at large repudiated it, and the Republican 


Woodrow Wilson. 


245 


nominee, Senator Warren G. Harding, also of Ohio, 
was elected President by an overwhelming popular 
and electoral vote. 

President Wilson’s health had broken down, as 
a result of his zealous campaigning on behalf of 
the League and the treaty, so he took no part in the 
election. He accepted his defeat philosophically 
and retired to private life, convinced that his ideas 
would some day be vindicated. Shortly before his 
retirement, he was honored by the award of the 
Nobel Peace Prize. 

The illness which had developed in Septem¬ 
ber, 1919, during the period of his presidency, 
made increasing inroads upon Mr. Wilson’s 
health and vitality after his retirement from 
public life. 

In spite of this, he persisted in keeping in 
touch with the important political and national 
developments of the day, his keen mind resist¬ 
ing to the last the encroachments of the disease 
which finally cost his life after an illness cover¬ 
ing a period of five years. 

He died at Washington, February 3, 1924. 


WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING. 

TWENTY-NINTH PRESIDENT- 1921-1923. 


Warren Gamaliel Harding was the seventh 
President of the United States to come from the 
Buckeye State. He was born in the village of Cor¬ 
sica, Morrow County, Ohio, Nov. 2, 1865. He 
came from a sturdy 
pioneer family. His 
great- grandfather mi¬ 
grated from Pennsyl¬ 
vania to Ohio with an ox 
team in 1820, and for 
many years the family 
home was a log cabin. 
Warren’s father, George 
Tyron Harding, studied 
medicine and became the 
village physician. He 
married Miss Phebe 
Elizabeth Dickerson, and Warren Harding was 
the couple’s first-born. 

Young Warren lived the life of the average boy 
in a country village, attending school until he was 
fourteen. When, in 1880, Dr. Harding started a 
small local newspaper, the boy got his first peep 
into the profession that was to provide him with 



WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING 



247 


Warren G. Harding. 

his life work. As “printer’s devil,” he took his first 
lessons in the art of typesetting. 

A year later he entered Ohio Central College at 
Iberia, working his way through school by doing 
odd jobs. After securing his degree of Bachelor 
of Science, he spent a brief period trying himself 
out successively at teaching school, studying law, 
and selling insurance; but he soon returned to news¬ 
paper work. Dr. Harding moved to Marion and 
bought an interest in a small daily, the Marion 
Star, on which young Warren worked as a re¬ 
porter. Dr. Harding was soon obliged to relinquish 
his interest, but eventually Warren acquired an in¬ 
terest of his own in the paper, on which he served 
in every capacity, from type-setter to advertising 
solicitor. 

After long years of hard work and struggle, the 
young man became editor and owner of the Star, 
which grew to be a flourishing enterprise. As a 
newspaper publisher, he was well liked by his busi¬ 
ness associates and employes, who felt that they 
could always depend upon him to give them fair 
play and honorable treatment. His attitude toward 
the Star's readers is displayed by his instructions 
to a new editor: “Remember there are two sides 
to every question. Always be sure you get both.” 

In 1891 he was married to Mrs. Florence Kling 


248 Lives of the Presidents. 

DeWolfe, daughter of Amos Kling, of Marion. No 
children were born to the couple. 

From early manhood, Warren Harding took 
a deep interest in politics, acting as delegate 
to all the local and state Republican conven¬ 
tions. He was elected to the state senate, in 
which he served two terms from 1900 to 1904. In 
1904 he was elected lieutenant governor of Ohio, 
serving two years, and in 1910 he was defeated for 
the governorship of that state. Four years later 
fortune favored him and he was chosen to succeed 
Senator Foraker in the United States Senate, of 
which he was still a member when elected to the 
Presidency in 1920. 

He was always identified with the conservative 
wing of the Republican party, having been chosen 
to put Mr. Taft in nomination during the bitter 
struggle of the conservatives and the progressives 
to control the Chicago convention of 1912. Mr. 
Harding’s conservative outlook on politics colored 
most of his acts as President. 

President Harding’s administration inherited 
many difficult post-war problems. Government 
finances were in confusion. Government expenses 
were enormous and had to be reduced. Something 
had to be done about the widespread industrial de¬ 
pression and unemployment. The cost of living was 
almost unbearably high, railroad rates were all but 


Warren G. Harding. 249 

prohibitive, and trade suffered heavily from the 
collapse of European markets, ruined by the war. 

One of the first things the new administration 
did was to pass the much-needed budget law, cre¬ 
mating the country’s first budget system, for which 
there had been a growing demand for a number of 
years. It provided for the balancing of the na¬ 
tion’s expenses against its income as a whole and 
for an independent audit of government accounts. 
The law established a budget bureau with a director 
in charge. 

Among the legislation enacted to relieve financial 
conditions during the first part of the administra¬ 
tion were the emergency protective tariff act, lay¬ 
ing high duties on agricultural products, supposedly 
to satisfy the farmers of the country, who were 
heavy sufferers from the business depression; and 
the revenue law, which repealed a few of the minor 
war taxes and reduced the surtaxes on incomes be¬ 
tween $5,000 and $100,000. 

Fearing a flood of aliens from war-stricken 
Europe to swell the army of the unemployed, Con¬ 
gress passed an immigration act in 1921, limiting 
the yearly number of immigrants from each coun¬ 
try to 3 per cent, of that nationality already in the 
United States. 

Separate treaties of peace were made with Ger¬ 
many, Hungary, and Austria, thus ending the state 


250 


Lives of the Presidents. 


of war which had formally existed since 1917. The 
size of the regular army was reduced to 150,000 
men; but comparatively large appropriations were 
made for the navy. 

At the invitation of President Harding a Con- # 
ference for the Limitation of Armaments met in 
Washington, D. C., in November, 1921. This con¬ 
ference was attended by representatives of Great 
Britain, France, Japan, Italy, China, Belgium, the 
Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States. Out 
of it grew the Five-Power Naval Treaty, whereby 
France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United 
States were pledged to certain radical reductions in 
their battleship tonnage. 

A bill providing a cash bonus for soldiers who 
had served in the European War was passed by 
Congress; but President Harding vetoed it because 
of insufficient provision for raising the money to 
pay the bonus. 

Mr. Harding was known as a great harmonizer 
in the days when he was the most popular man in 
the Ohio legislature. In the office of Chief Execu¬ 
tive of the United States, however, this fine talent 
for persuading people to get together and forget 
their differences was taxed to the utmost in trying 
to harmonize the diverse elements in his own party. 
In spite of the President's peace-making efforts the 
progressives grew more and more outspoken in their 
dissatisfaction with the rule of the conservatives. 


Warren G. Harding. 251 

Early in June, 1923, President Harding 
started upon a cross-continent tour, with the 
purpose of placing directly before the people of 
the country the vital features of the several 
important issues then facing his administra¬ 
tion. 

These included the railway problem, Interna¬ 
tional Court, development of agriculture, prob¬ 
lem of production and distribution and prohibi¬ 
tion. 

It has been remarked that probably no other 
President up to that time had spoken to as 
many people as did President Harding, for it 
was during the Harding administration that 
radio-telephony was perfected and the number 
of those, throughout the country, who “listened 
in” while the President delivered speeches in 
various cities along the route cannot be esti¬ 
mated. 

In this cross-continent tour an extensive trip 
was made into Alaska. President Harding de¬ 
sired to obtain first hand information concerning 
this great territory so intelligent recommenda¬ 
tions might be made for its development. The 
return trip was then begun through the Pacific 
coast states, and Mr. Harding was scheduled to 
make a number of addresses on his way back to 
Washington. The different cities that were to be 


252 


Lives of the Presidents. 


honored by a visit from the President had pre¬ 
pared for his reception. 

The country was startled by the news of a halt 
in the President’s journey, due to a sudden ill¬ 
ness that developed when the President’s party 
reached San Francisco. Overtaxed and worn by 
the heavy demands made upon him in dealing 
with the vexing problems of the after-the-war 
period, a condition aggravated by his anxiety 
over his wife’s fragile health, Mr. Harding 
proved a ready victim to the malady that had 
overtaken him and, after a few days’ illness, 
death came on the evening of Thursday, August 
2, 1923, at San Francisco. 

The pathway of the train that bore the Presi¬ 
dent’s body eastward to the national Capitol was 
lined with reverent thousands gathered to pay a 
last tribute to a fallen leader. After the simple 
services at the Capitol, the remains were taken to 
Mr. Harding’s old home at Marion, Ohio, for 
burial. 


CALVIN COOLIDGE 


THIRTIETH PRESIDENT—1923— 

The thirtieth President of the United States, 
Calvin Coolidge, was sworn in as President im¬ 
mediately following the death of President Hard¬ 
ing, in accordance with the provision made by 
the Constitution for 
the accession of the 
Vice President to the 
Presidency in the 
event of a President’s 
death. 

Calvin Coolidge was 
born at Plymouth, 

Vermont, July 4, 1872, 
and was the son of 
John Calvin and Vic¬ 
toria J. (Moor) Cool¬ 
idge. John Calvin 
Coolidge was a farmer 

- CALVIN COOLIDGE. 

and a descendant of 

the John Coolidge who settled in Watertown m 
1630, and who was one of a band of English¬ 
men that, because of their great love of civil and 
religious liberty, crossed the ocean to the haz¬ 
ards of a wilderness in preference to submission 
to English tyranny. 



254 


Lives of the Presidents . 


In addition to working his farm, the father of 
Calvin Coolidge kept the village store. And, as 
a boy, Calvin Coolidge did his share of the every¬ 
day work of the farm and the Coolidge home. 
Just as the other boys of the village and country¬ 
side, he had his definite tasks to perform. He 
sawed and chopped wood, watered the cattle, 
drove cows to pasture, planted potatoes and corn 
and, as he grew older and stronger, followed the 
plow and worked in the hayfield. 

For the most part, the boys of the Vermont 
village where Calvin Coolidge grew up had to 
devise their own amusements. There was fish¬ 
ing in the mountain brooks, and perhaps a game 
of ball on the village green; and in Winter there 
was fine coasting down the hillsides. 

There were not many books in .the Coolidge 
home library, but the books that were there were 
carefully chosen. First, of course, was the Bible 
—that same Bible, perhaps, which was used 
when, in the simple, old-fashioned sitting room 
of the Coolidge home at Plymouth, the father of 
Calvin Coolidge administered the oath of office 
to his son on the morning of August 3, 1923, 
when that son became President of the United 
States. 

It is readily seen, in the speeches of Calvin 
Coolidge, that he was well versed in Scriptural 


Calvin Coolidge. 


255 


teachings; that he was familiar, too, with the 
greatest of the writers in the English tongue 
— Milton, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Macauley, 
Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier and Emerson. 
It has been said of President Coolidge that he 
read with understanding and that what he read 
he really mastered and made his own. 

In the village school which Calvin Coolidge 
attended, the principal subjects taught were 
reading, writing and arithmetic—the “three R’s.” 
Not infrequently the instructor would be some 
college student who was adding to his funds by 
teaching the village school. 

In the loss of his mother, when he was but 12 
years of age, the boy faced his first great sorrow. 
His father’s second marriage, to Carrie G. 
Brown, who died in 1920, gave the boy a step¬ 
mother, to whom, it has been said, he attributed 
much that is of value in his upbringing. 

When Calvin Coolidge was 13 years old, he 
tied a leather strap around Greenough’s Latin 
grammar and the small Bible that his mother 
had given him, and walked eleven miles to Black 
River Academy at Ludlow. It was in the acad¬ 
emies at Ludlow and St. Johnsbury, in Vermont, 
that he laid the foundation for his college work. 
In these academies, particular attention was 
given to instruction in Latin and Greek, mathe- 


256 


Lives of the Presidents . 


matics and English literature, with a few other 
subjects such as French and German, science and 
history. 

In 1891 he entered the freshman class of Am¬ 
herst College. He was then only a little more 
than 19 years of age. 

After leaving college, he engaged in the study 
of law in the office of Hammond & Field in the 
city of Northampton, entering this office in the 
Fall of 1895. In 1897, twenty months later, he 
was admitted to the Bar. He became active in 
public affairs and was, successively: Member of 
Common Council, Northampton, Mass.; City So¬ 
licitor, Northampton; Member Massachusetts 
House of Representatives; Mayor of Northamp¬ 
ton; Member of Massachusetts Senate; Presi¬ 
dent of Massachusetts Senate; Fieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts; Governor of Massachu¬ 
setts; Vice President of the United States; Pres¬ 
ident of the United States. 

In 1905, Mr. Coolidge was married to Grace 
Goodhue, a native of his own state, Vermont, 
whom he met in Northampton where she was a 
teacher. 

While Mr. Coolidge was governor of Massa¬ 
chusetts the police force of Boston organized, 
joined a labor union, and went on a strike, leav¬ 
ing the city to the mercy of the lawless element. 


Calvin Coolidge. 


257 


The governor acted with promptness and en¬ 
ergy. He called out the state militia at once 
and put Boston under martial law. Order was 
quickly established, the strike broken, and the 
police force reorganized. 

This was a situation that might have become 
very grave had it not been met with a prompt 
decision and firmness of action. It is generally 
conceded that a police force has no more right 
to strike than has an army, and Mr. Coolidge 
was very generally commended for his decisive 
action. This affair made him nationally known, 
and no doubt had much influence in winning for 
him the nomination as Vice President. 

Prominent among the acts of the Coolidge ad¬ 
ministration are: 

1. The recognition of the Mexican govern¬ 
ment by the United States, September 3, 1923. 

2. Extension of from three to twelve miles of 
the territorial jurisdiction of the United States 
in regard to liquor smuggling. 

3. Revision of taxes. This included a retro¬ 
active reduction of 25 per cent of the 1923 in¬ 
come taxes payable this year; a permanent revi¬ 
sion of the income tax rates; a special reduction 
of 25 per cent in taxes on earned incomes; repeal 
of many of the miscellaneous and excise taxes; 
removal of capital stock tax. 


258 


Lives of the Presidents. 


4. The 67th Congress reduced the national 
debt by $1,250,000,000 and the national expenses 
by $10,000,000 a week. The 68th Congress voted 
appropriations totaling upward of $4,000,000,000. 

5. Congress voted to submit to the people an 
amendment to the Constitution which would 
give Congress the power to limit, regulate or 
prohibit labor by children under 18 years of age. 

6. Act passed by Congress, over the Presi¬ 
dent's veto, to pay adjusted compensation to the 
veterans of the World War. This compensation 
was to be given in the form of endowment poli¬ 
cies, payable in twenty years; the payment being 
based upon $1.00 a day for home service and 
$1.25 a day for over-seas service, while holders 
may borrow up to 90 per cent of the cash value 
of the policy after two years. The act provided 
a maximum basic compensation for home service 
of $500; for foreign service $625. Cash pay¬ 
ments were authorized when the compensation 
was $50 or less. 

7. A commission, headed by Charles G. 
Dawes, reported a constructive industrial policy 
by which the German reparations debt might be 
secured. 

8. Congress passed (1921) the immigration 
bill limiting the number of immigrants from any 
country to 3 per cent of that nationality already 


Calvin Coolidge . 


259 


in the country, according to the census of 1910. 
The 68th Congress (1924) changed this to a 
basic quota of 2 per cent of the 1910 census and 
added a Japanese exclusion clause to become ef¬ 
fective July 1, 1924. 

President Harding was elected as a harmon- 
izer. As a newspaper publisher and politician, 
he had taken as his watchword, “Remember, 
there are two sides to every question. Get both.” 
As an executive, his ear was always open to the 
suggestions of his advisers; and his tendency 
was toward following the guidance of the lead¬ 
ers of his party rather than toward aggressive 
leadership. President Coolidge carried out the 
program of his predecessor, but was notable be¬ 
cause of the tenacity with which he adhered to 
principle rather than policy. 

Mr. Coolidge was selected by his party, at the 
National Convention in Cleveland/in June, 1924, 
as its nominee for President, while Charles G. 
Dawes, of Illinois, was chosen for Vice Presi¬ 
dent. The Democratic Party nominated for 
President, John W. Davis of West Virginia, and 
for Vice President, Charles W. Bryan of Ne¬ 
braska. The candidates of the Independents or 
Progressives were, for President, Robert M. La 
Follette of Wisconsin, and for Vice President, 
Burton K. Wheeler of Montana. 


Fairy Tales of Long Ago 

By Julia Darrow Cowles 

Grades 3-4 Cloth Binding 

128 Pages Colored Illustrations 

Price, 68 Cents a Copy, Postpaid 

T RAIN a child’s imagination by feeding it with the fancies of 
great story-tellers, is a truism familiar to all teachers. There 
is nothing like the old fairy tales for nourishing young imagi¬ 
nations. This group of tales Mrs. Cowles has gathered from 
many sources and retold in charming fashion. That they have 
gained, rather than lost, by the retelling, will soon become ap¬ 
parent to teachers; for only the simplest words and phrases are 
used, and the narrative is so handled as to emphasize the home¬ 
ly lesson in manners or morals concealed in the story. 

These tales are full of action and delicious, nonsense which 
accord with the child’s mode of living and thinking. Besides 
teaching the* children to read, and furnishing them with much 
fine entertainment, these stories inculcate lessons in good- 
fellowship, usefulness, politeness, and agreeable 
wholesome living. 

The volume comprises fifteen stories, five of 
which are dramatized for schoolroom use. 

CONTENTS 

The Nightingale 
The Six Swans 
Bruno’s Picnic 
Ole Shut-Eyes 
Inger’s Loaf 

Southwest Wind Esquire 
The Three Lemons 
The Twelve Months 
A Mad Tea Party 
The Enchanted Mead 
The White Cat 
The Ugly Duckling 
The Miller’s Daughter 
Professor Frog’s Lecture 
The Spring in the Valley 

FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO 
















The Children of 
Mother Goose 

By JULIA DARROW COWLES 


For Grades 
Two and Three 

Illustrations 
in Colors 

128 Pages 
Cloth Binding 


THE CHILDREN OE MOTHER OOOSE 


Price, 68 Cents a Copy, Postpaid 

"|\ /T ANY a young reader longs to know more 
about his favorite characters in Mother 
Goose—more than the short rhyme about each 
is able to tell him. In this collection of minia¬ 
ture stories, he has his wish gratified. Here 
he gets intimate glimpses of the home and 
community life of many old friends: Mistress 
Mary, Boy Blue, Peter Piper, Curly Locks, 
Crosspatch, Simple Simon, Jack and Jill, Tom¬ 
my Tinker, Bobby Shaftoe, and a host of 
others. 

It appears that the Mother Goose children 
are a .healthy, fun-loving, workaday lot of 
youngsters, exactly like the boys and girls who 
read about them. They attend Dame Trot’s 
school. They give tea parties and Valentine 
parties. They take care of the babies of the 
Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe. They help 
the Crooked Man build himself a new chim¬ 
ney. Dr. Foster takes them walking in the 
woods and teaches them things about insects 
and spiders which every child is simply aching 

_ to know. Mother Goose herself presides de- 

Spedmen Page lightfully over their revels. 

Teachers will find these stories valuable for inculcating a love of reading in 
the child; first, because they are intrinsically fascinating, and second, because 
they quicken his mental powers by a shrewd application of some lesson in 
daily living. 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO 



“/ wonder which goose gave it to 


“Oh, Mother Goose,” they all cried, “your 
goose has laid a golden eggt” 

“Why, sure enough,” said Mother Goose. 
“That must be my Easter present. I wonder 
which goose gave it to mel” 

Then Simple Simon waved his hand just 
as though he were in school, and said, “It 
was Jack-A-Dandy. I saw him put it in the 
nest!” 














AMERICAN HEROES FROM 
HISTORY 
By INEZ N. McFEE 
For Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Grades 
Cloth — 262 pages — Illustrated — 76 cents 
When the “fairy-tale” period haa 
passed nothing thrills the schoolboy or 
girl as do true stories of real heroes. 
“American Heroes from History” de¬ 
scribes the deeds of those men who 
were instrumental in building our 
great Nation so entertainingly that 
the pupils are taught history and pa¬ 
triotism while absorbed in the stories 
themselves. 

PATRIOTIC SONGS 

32 large pages — Paper — 10 cents 
Contains the words and music of 
twenty-three of . the best National 
songs of America and the Allied 
countries. There is no better way to 
teach love for one’s country than by 
the use of patriotic songs. Printed on 
good paper and well bound. This book 
should be in the hands of every boy 
and girl in the country. 


THE MAN 

WITHOUT A COUNTRY 

By EDWARD EVERETT HALE 

Cloth, 40 cents—Paper, 20 cents — 64 pages 

This book has become an American 
classic — too well known to require 
comment. 

Our edition is an excellent one, with 
introduction and notes, an account of 
how the story came to be written, 
portrait of author, and questions on 
the text. 

How many copies shall we send you? 


Patriotic Books 


A. FLANAGAN COMPANY— CHICAGO 









Lincoln Day Entertainments 


Edited by JOS. C. SINDELAR 

With Original Matter by a Corps of Special Writers 

Illustrated . 160 Pages. Paper. Price , 40 cents 

T HE only complete book of entertainments for 
the celebration of Lincoln’s birthday pub¬ 
lished. The readings and recitations are both 
original and selected, some having been used by 
special permission of author or publisher and which 
are found in no other one collection. The plays and 
dialogues, drills, pantomimes, and tableaux are all 
new. There are three new songs with music, and 
six of new words to old and familiar tunes. The 
stories and arranged facts will also be found of great 
interest and some help in preparing complete pro¬ 
grams, For all grades. 

CONTENTS 



Readings and Recitations 

33 original and selected 
31 tributes, 28 quotations 

Dialogues and Exercises 

Captain Lincoln 
A Flag Exercise 
The Prophecy 

The Savior of Our Flag and 
Country 


With Fife and Drum 
The Wooden Fire-Shove) 
Suggestive Program 

Drills 

Civil War Daughters 
The Blue and the Gray on the 
Rappahannock 
Old Glory 

The Star-Spangled Banner 


Pantomimes and Tableaux 

7 pantomimes 
6 tableaux 

Songs, Stories, Facts 

3 new songs with music, 6 of nev 
words to old tunes 

8 stories and arranged facts (in 
eluding Events in the Life oi 
Lincoln) 


Washington Day Entertainments 


Edited by the Author of Thanksgiving Entertainments, Christ 
mas Celebrations, Lincoln Day Entertainments, 

The New Christmas Book 

Illustrated. 176 Pages. Paper. Price t 40 centi 

A companion volume to Lincoln Day Entertain¬ 
ments. The material is carefully classified, 
and the book is complete in every detail 
For all grades. 

CONTENTS 



Pantomimes and Tableaux 

S pantomimes (including the 
mock ceremony of Washing¬ 
ton’s Inauguration) 

16 tableaux 


Readings and Recitations 

55 original and selected 
100 tributes and quotations 

Dialogues and Exercises 

George Washington (5 boys) 
George Washington (16 chil¬ 
dren) 

The Making of “Old Glory 
A Pair of Scissors 
A Primary History Lesson 
Spirits of Days Gone By 
The Three Georges 
A True Patriot 
The Vision 

Washington Day in the Primary 
Room 


Washington’s Birthday in th* 
Kindergarten 

What Should Have Happened 
Young Soldiers 

Drills 

Colonial Dames’ Tea Party 
Flag of the Free Drill 
Military Drill 
Noted Choppers 

Songs, Stories, Facts 

3 new songs with music, 7 of nett 
words to old tunes 
13 stories, addresses and ar¬ 
ranged facts (including Events 
in the Life of Washington) 

1 Suggestive Program 


A. FLANAGAN COMPANY : CHICAGO 























V/ 


JUST STORIES 


BY 


ANNIE KLINGENSMITH 

Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Gary, Indiana 
AUTHOR OF 

'Household Stories'*and “Norse Gods and Heroes'* 


In “Just Stories” Miss Klingensmith has selected 
and adapted from the best in children’s literature 
more than thirty of the stories she considers especially 
needed in work with children in the third and fourth 
grades. They were originally printed as leaflets by 
Gary pupils and aroused an enthusiasm that demand¬ 
ed their continued existence. The illustrations are 
exceptionally good, ar.d with the large, clear type, 
good paper, and durable binding, ‘Just Stories” is an 
unusually attractive book. 


128 Pages—Profusely 
Illustrated in Colors 
Cloth—68 Cents 



WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?’ SAID THE LION" 
frustration from “Benjy in Beast'land”—one of the stories./ 
























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